Derek Jeter singled in his first at-bat of the spring and Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect inning just hours after announcing that he will retire after the upcoming season, but the New York Yankees dropped a 2-1 decision to the Atlanta Braves.

Jeter, coming off surgery to repair a broken ankle he suffered in Game 1 of the ALCS last October, batted leadoff as the designated hitter. He singled in the first inning and grounded out to third in the third.

Rivera, as expected, announced his retirement plans in a press conference on Saturday morning. He also made his spring debut after recovering from a torn ACL that he sustained last May while shagging fly balls during batting practice before a game in Kansas City.

Baseball's all-time saves leader worked the fifth inning after Jose Ramirez went the first four for New York, and retired each of the three batters he faced. Dan Uggla popped out before Juan Francisco and Chris Johnson were each called out on strikes.

Atlanta scored in the seventh when Tyler Pastornicky tripled and came home on an Uggla single. Jordan Parraz knocked in a run in the ninth with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 edge before the Yankees scored once in the bottom of the inning on an RBI grounder by Thomas Neal.

Ichiro Suzuki had two hits for New York and Pastornicky finished with two for Atlanta.

Game Notes