Nunez, 5 others called up from Triple A

Infielder Eduardo Nunez, one of six players called up by the Yankees from the minor leagues as major-league rosters expanded beyond the 25-man limit Saturday, was thrust right into the lineup against the Orioles. Nunez was the designated hitter and in 8-hole hitter in the batting order.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had contemplated starting Nunez at shortstop and giving Derek Jeter a DH day but changed his mind. Nunez joined the Yankees from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre along with right-handed pitchers Cory Wade and Adam Warren, left-handed pitcher Justin Thomas , catcher Francisco Cervelli and outfielder Curtis Dickerson, who was signed to a major-league contract and selected from SWB.

Jeter finished August with a major-league-leading 43 hits, the most for him in any month since August 2009 when he had 46. It was the 15th time in his career that Jeter had at least 40 hits in a month, the most for any Yankees player since Joe DiMaggio did it in 17 months.

Jeter’s six home runs in August matched his third-highest career total or any month in his career, behind the nine he had in June 2004 and the eight in August 2001. The Captain also had six homers in August 2009, September 2004 and July 199. Jeet has homered four times in his past 10 games and six time in his past 18.

DJ homered in a career-high four consecutive road games, the first Yankee to accomplish the feat since former teammate Tino Martinez homered in five straight road games from Sept. 23 to Oct. 4, 1999. With 14 homers in 2012, Jeter has reached double figures for the 16th time in his 17 seasons. He and Willie Mays are the only players in history with at least 3,000 hits, 250 homers, 300 stolen bases and 1,200 runs batted in.

In his injury-rehabilitation assignment Friday night for Class A Tampa at Lakeland, Alex Rodriguez as the DH had 0-for-3 with a walk and a run. A-Rod was to play third base for Tampa Saturday. Righthander David Aardsma also appeared in Friday night’s game and pitched one inning of scoreless relief. Lefthander Pedro Feliciano pitched one inning of relief for Class A Staten Island at Brooklyn and allowed one earned run, on a home run, with one strikeout. It was the first run Feliciano yielded in 7 1/3 innings in injury-rehab assignments.