BALTIMORE — The liner seemed destined for right-center field, where it would have landed as an RBI single in the first.
But this is Alex Rodriguez, and even when he does everything right at the plate, it typically doesn’t work out for him. So perhaps it should be no surprise that Robert Andino made a diving catch and turned Rodriguez’s smash into a double play in the Yankees’ 3-2 ALDS Game 2 loss to the Orioles last night at Camden Yards.
“I can’t believe he made that play,” Rodriguez said. “I thought that ball was by him. I saw that ball into center field and that it was first and third and 1-0 and ‘Here we go.’ There was a lot of momentum change on that play.”
The Yankees — and Rodriguez — never recovered.
He singled to left with two outs in the third, but then flied out to center and struck out two more times, once to deflate a rally in the seventh and again to end the game.
Despite Rodriguez’s continued difficulties at the plate, Joe Girardi said he had no intention of moving the slugger down from third in the lineup for tomorrow’s Game 3 in The Bronx.
“He squared up two balls,” Girardi said. “Right now, I don’t have any plans to make any changes.”
But the lineup issue figures to keep coming up as long as Rodriguez fails to produce. Last night, he struck out for the second straight night against Baltimore closer Jim Johnson, this time with Robinson Cano waiting helplessly in the on-deck circle.
“I feel OK,” Rodriguez said. “Some at-bats, you’ve just gotta finish them. … I was trying to make [Johnson] get the ball up. He had a big-time cement ball that was moving all over the place.”
And he insists his mindset is OK.
“You can’t get frustrated,” A-Rod said. “I’m going to keep attacking.”
Rodriguez did make a nifty contribution on defense, when his fakeout of J.J. Hardy helped prevent the Oriole from scoring from second on Adam Jones’ single to left with two outs in the third — something Rodriguez called a “miracle.”
But not enough of one to turn the Yankees’ or Rodriguez’s fortunes.
“That game was very frustrating for us,” Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of opportunities, starting in the first. … That’s the thing about the playoffs: The biggest play of the game can be in the first inning.”
dan.martin@nypost.com