Mark Teixeira, Masahiro Tanaka lead New York Yankees past Cleveland Indians

NEW YORK -- Mark Teixeira joked about Alex Rodriguez having more thunder in his activities.

On Sunday, it was the retiring first baseman who made some positive noise at the plate and in the field.

Teixeira had an RBI double in the fifth inning which became the winning run and ended the seventh with a big defensive stop as the New York Yankees recorded a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday after the end of Rodriguez's career was announced.

"Alex's thunder is always a little louder than mine," Teixeira said.

Teixeira appeared in his third game since an emotional press conference on Friday to announce his retirement from a 14-year career. He gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead with a long double over left fielder Rajai Davis' head in the fifth.

Two innings later after Davis scored on Roberto Perez's single, the Indians runners at first and second. Francisco Lindor hit a hard ground ball to the outer edge of the field, Teixeira made the play and dove to tag the base as Lindor slid head first while Adam Warren was slow in getting to the base.

"I was hoping to flip it to first but Adam wasn't there," the 36-year-old Teixeira said. "I told him he doesn't have a 20-something first basemen like he did in Chicago. We had a good laugh about it. He's fast and I was starting from scratch and he had a full steam so I knew I was going to have to dive for that one."

Teixeira is retiring because staying on the field has become difficult in recent seasons. He has extra base hits in four of his last five games and hits in nine of 10 games since July 26.

"He's used the whole field," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You could just see it in his swing that it just looks like it's right. He's using his legs and he feels better."

Teixeira's double helped give Masahiro Tanaka (8-4) a win after he posted a 7.94 ERA in his previous two starts. He allowed one run and six hits in six-plus innings, exiting to a standing ovation after Davis opened the seventh with a double.

Tanaka struck out eight, his most in nearly a year and it marked the 15th time he allowed two runs or less this season. The right-hander highlighted his performance by striking out Lonnie Chisenhall on the 12th pitch of the at-bat with a runner on first for the final out of the sixth.

"I felt like my fastball and the combination of my fastball and my splitter was working really well today so I think that was probably, sort of, the key to success," Tanaka said through an interpreter.

Following Rodriguez's emotional press conference, the 41-year-old watched the game in a jacket as Jacoby Ellsbury lifted a sacrifice fly in the first inning and Didi Gregorius homered in the fourth off Carlos Carrasco (7-6). When Gregorius reached the dugout following his 13th home run, Rodriguez was the first to greet him and took off his helmet to celebrate.

After Tanaka exited, the Indians scored their second run in the eighth on a wild pitch by Dellin Betances. Betances struck out Tyler Naquin with the tying run on second. In the ninth, he got Carlos Santana to bounce into a double play and fanned Jason Kipnis to end his second save.

Carrasco allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings as the Indians lost for the fifth time in seven games. The Indians were held to two runs after scoring 37 runs in the previous six games.

"I thought he more than pitched well enough to win today," Kipnis said. "This one's on the offense. We'll take three runs from our starting pitchers every day. I thought he pitched great today."

The Indians also had issues with plate umpire Lance Barrett's strike zone, specifically Mike Napoli. Napoli was tossed by Barrett in the eighth following a strikeout as he had glared towards Barrett, dropped his bat, argued and was tossed.

NOTES: The Yankees announced DH Alex Rodriguez will appear in his final game on Friday. After Friday's game, he will be unconditionally released from his contract to sign a contract to become a special advisor and instructor through Dec. 2017. "This is a tough day," Rodriguez said. "I love this game and I love this team. Today I'm saying goodbye to both." Rodriguez will be paid the remainder of his 10-year contract deal, worth approximately $28 million. Manager Joe Girardi said if Rodriguez wants to appear in each game, he will find a way to give him some playing time. ... Cleveland C Roberto Perez stopped a 0-for-16 slide with a third-inning double. He also began Sunday with two hits in his previous 40 at-bats. ... Indians DH Mike Napoli was ejected for the sixth time in his career.