MLB

A-Rod goes 0-for-4 in return to Bronx, but Gardner saves day in 10th

The fans at Yankee Stadium last night started off trying to figure out how to respond to Alex Rodriguez for the first time this season.

By the end, those who remained knew what to do when Brett Gardner came up with a game-winning single with two outs in the 10th inning of the Yankees’ 4-3 win over the Tigers, after Mariano Rivera had blown his second straight save.

At that point, Rodriguez was out of the game, having been replaced at third base by Jayson Nix in the ninth.

But in the 10th, Nix and Curtis Granderson both reached to start the inning. They advanced on a wild pitch by Al Alburquerque as he fanned Lyle Overbay, leading to an intentional walk of Eduardo Nunez to load the bases with one out.

That brought up Chris Stewart, who struck out looking — with Vernon Wells sitting on the bench.

But then Gardner delivered the decisive hit, making a winner of Shawn Kelley (4-1).

Rivera was just one strike away from his 36th save when Miguel Cabrera crushed a game-tying, two-run homer to center.

Earlier in the at-bat, Overbay couldn’t balance himself well enough to catch Cabrera’s foul ball that landed in the Yankees’ dugout and would have ended the game.

Rodriguez went hitless in four at-bats, was cheered and then booed and didn’t have anything hit in his direction at third.

The crowd clearly had been curious to see what — if anything — the aging third baseman had left and Rodriguez gave them plenty of reason to knock him.

He struck out his first two at-bats before managing a fly ball to short right in the fifth. When Rodriguez fanned looking in the eighth on a full count, it was apparent at least some of the fan reaction was directed toward home plate umpire Will Little.

Still, a week ago, while Rodriguez was still a one-man barnstormer visiting various towns up and down the eastern seaboard, he sat in Trenton and admitted the obvious.

“There’s not a bigger compliment than being booed on the road and probably nothing worse than being booed at home,” Rodriguez said at the time.

The fans wrestled with their feelings toward the suspended third baseman.

Should they jeer the guy who is appealing a 211-game ban by MLB because of an alleged involvement in the Biogenesis scandal or root for the slugger they came to see?

Rodriguez was overmatched by Detroit starter Rick Porcello, and his reception almost certainly would have been worse without the pitching of Ivan Nova.

The right-hander pitched well again over seven innings and David Robertson tossed a scoreless eighth before Rivera entered with a two-run lead.

The Yankees (58-56) snapped a four-game losing streak and avoided falling to .500 for the first time since April 13, when they were 5-5. Detroit saw its 12-game winning streak snapped.

To Joe Girardi, the whirlwind surrounding Rodriguez’s return has not overshadowed the other issues around the Yankees.

“Not in my eyes,” Girardi said. “Maybe somebody else’s, but not in mine. … In my eyes, I’m well aware of where we’re at and that is the story to me.”

Wells, a big-ticket free agent who struggled in both Toronto and Anaheim, was never reviled in either location the way Rodriguez is, but he has been the target of boos from the home crowd.

“If that kind of stuff affects you as a player, you probably shouldn’t be playing,” Wells said. “People have opinions; people have feelings toward a certain thing, and the same people that boo will be the same people that cheer when you get a hit. It’s just the nature of the game.”

So far, Rodriguez has played fairly well, but unless he finds a way to resuscitate this Yankees season, it might not be enough to sway public opinion.

dan.martin@nypost.com

Boos rained down on A-Rod well after the start of the weather-delayed game, but most in the crowd said they’d forgive Rodriguez — as long as he hits.

He did not. A-Rod went 0-for-4 in the Yankees 10th-inning, 4-3 win over the Tigers, which was sealed by a Brett Gardner single with bases loaded.

“The funny thing is, when he’s playing for you, you want him to do well,” said Brad Dahl, 32, a bartender from Lefferts Gardens. “When he’s making headlines for other reasons, you hate the guy. But when he’s driving in runs, you love him.”

Brad’s brother, Ross, 28, said before the game, “I think he’ll probably get booed 75/25, but 100% [of fans] want him to score runs.”

A-Rod batted fifth and manned third base in his first game in the Bronx since a dismal performance in the 2012 playoffs against the Detroit Tigers — Friday’s opponent.

Rodriguez, who is appealing the 211-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball earlier this week for his role in the Biogenesis steroid scandal, did little to reward the Yankee faithful, going 0 – 4 with three strikeouts before being lifted for a defensive replacement.

Season ticket holder Stella Ricci, 72, came to the game in her pinstriped #13 jersey to support the troubled star.

“I will root for him because I’m a Yankees fan, good or bad,” Ricci, of Coney Island, said. “I’m going to root for him one way or another.”

“I like Alex Rodriguez. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have won [the World Series] in 2009,” she said.

Still, Ricci said, “I would like to see him apologize. Be a man and say, ‘I’m sorry.'”

The Yankees are seven games back in the wild card and will be looking to start a hot streak with Ivan Nova on the mound against Detroit righty Rick Porcello.