NEW YORK — Derek Jeter admits reaching 3,000 hits is constantly on his mind. It’s unavoidable with everyone talking about it. And he also knows there are only four games left on the Yankees’ current homestand before they head out for a six-game road trip.

Yankee Brett Gardner runs past Indians catcher Carlos Santana to score Sunday. (AP photo.)

The race is on to do it at home.

Jeter had a pair of RBI singles to get within seven of the milestone Sunday, and New York pounded out a season-high 18 hits while beating the slumping Cleveland Indians 9-1.

“I’d be lying to you if I told you I haven’t been thinking about it,” said Jeter, who singled during a five-run fifth inning and again during a three-run eighth, while also hitting a pair of long fly balls to the warning track.

“It’s impossible for that not to be in your head, because I’m around that all the time,” Jeter continued. “Yeah, I’d love to do it at home.”

It’s obvious looking around the clubhouse that he’s getting close.

Curtis Granderson went 4 for 4 and drove in a pair of runs, and he dressed in peace as reporters huddle around the Yankees shortstop. Brett Gardner did the same at the other end of the room after two doubles, a triple and scoring three runs.

“It’s all over the place,” Gardner said. “It’s still a few days away, but everyone’s pulling for him every single at-bat.”

Alex Rodriguez added three RBIs and scored a run for New York, closing within two of Hall of Famer Ted Williams for 16th place on the major league scoring list. Freddy Garcia (5-5) wiggled out of enough trouble over 6 2-3 innings to win for the third time in four starts.

The Indians have lost nine of their last 10, though they held onto first place in the AL Central by a sliver after Detroit also lost Sunday. Cleveland will try to avoid a four-game sweep when the teams meet Monday night.

“We’re going to have to tinker with the lineup and do whatever we can to try to get better,” manager Manny Acta said. “We were 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position today. You can’t expect to win when you do that.”

Orlando Cabrera reached 2,000 career hits with a single in the second inning, a hard shot at Jeter that hopped over his shoulder and into left field.

That was the biggest highlight of the afternoon for Indians, who stole five bases and kept getting guys into scoring position but repeatedly failed to score.

Josh Tomlin (7-4) did his best to keep the Indians in the game, but his defense failed him in the fifth inning and New York pushed five runs across.

Gardner led off with a double that right fielder Shin-Soo Choo appeared to lose in the flat, gray sky. Jeter followed with his RBI single and Granderson singled before A-Rod hit a fly ball that left fielder Austin Kearns woefully misjudged for a two-run double.

Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher followed with RBI singles, the second of which it appeared first baseman Matt LaPorta could have fielded. Jorge Posada’s sacrifice fly made it 6-0.

“We’ve been swinging the bats well up and down the lineup,” Jeter said.

That hasn’t been the case for the Indians, who were 0 for 17 with runners on base. They’ve managed just five combined runs off opposing starters in their last five games.

It’s not as if they didn’t have chances.

Cabrera was stranded on second in the second inning, and Asdrubal Cabrera left standing on third base in the third. Choo reached third the following inning, and the Indians put runners on second in the fifth and sixth innings without getting them home.

They finally coaxed a run across in the seventh, and loaded the bases against reliever Boone Logan, before Choo lined out to shortstop to end the inning.

“It’s very frustrating,” Orlando Cabrera said. “If I tell you that we’re not trying or we’re not working hard, I’d be lying to you.”

There appeared to be no lingering animosity a day after Rodriguez was hit in the thigh by a pitch, and two days after Mark Teixeira was hit and the benches cleared.

New York batters had been hit eight times over the first five games of the homestand, including once each of the previous five contests. That streak was one shy of the franchise’s longest since 1920, set in May 2006 and matched last August and September.

Notes

• The Yankees put RHP Bartolo Colon (strained right hamstring) and RHP Amauri Sanit (sore right elbow) on the DL before the game. OF Chris Dickerson and RHP Hector Noesi joined the Yankees from Triple-A.
• Indians DH Travis Hafner (strained right oblique) took BP before the game.
• Jets coach Rex Ryan attended the game wearing a pinstripe jersey.
• New York is a major league-best 17-3 in day games.
• Tomlin allowed six runs in five innings.

Tonight

• Who: Cleveland at New York
• Time: 7:05
• Where: Yankee Stadium, New York
• Pitchers: Carrasco (5-3, 4.52 ERA) vs. Burnett (6-4, 4.37)
• TV/radio: STO, ESPN; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

GRAFTON — A mother and her 11-year-old son were killed and her husband and daughter severely injured after a head-on car crash about 10:30 p.m. Saturday on state Route 83 in front of the Grafton Correctional Institution.

Wetherbee

Tammy Tomasheski, 36, and 11-year-old Tom Tomasheski III, of Valley City, were killed in the crash. Lorain County sheriff’s Cpl. Tom Tomasheski Jr., 38, and his daughter, Danielle, 13, were critically injured in the accident, according to Sgt. Paul March of the Elyria post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Tom Tomasheski was driving southbound in a Honda Civic when he was struck by a northbound Kia driven by Gerald Wetherbee, 35, of Oberlin. March said Wetherbee veered to the right side of the road then left before striking the Honda. March, who wasn’t at the crash scene, said troopers suspect Wetherbee may have been drinking and that a blood test was taken from him after he was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland where he was in critical condition Monday.

Wetherbee has an extensive criminal record, including two convictions for drunken driving. March said troopers on Monday will apply for a warrant to get a sample of Wetherbee’s blood to determine if he was driving drunk before the crash.

A decision on whether to charge Wetherbee won’t be made until the results of the blood test are completed in a few weeks.

“We’ll wait until the dust settles and make sure all our reports are completed and presented to the prosecutor’s office,” March said.

Tomasheski, who joined the sheriff’s office in 1997, was in critical condition at MetroHealth on Sunday night. Danielle was in critical condition at Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

In a news release, Sheriff Phil Stammitti and Chief Deputy Cavanaugh said the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office staff is praying for Tomasheski and Danielle and grieving for Tammy Tomasheski and her son.

“We are all one large family,” Stammitti and Cavanaugh said. “Through our devoted and caring support we will get through this devastating event together.”

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.

NEW YORK – Mitch Talbot was almost keeping up with Bartolo Colon, holding the Yankees to two runs in the sixth inning when he slipped while delivering a pitch and everything came apart.

His two-seam fastball went right into Alex Rodriguez’s left thigh, and Talbot was sent to the showers almost as quickly in Cleveland’s 4-0 loss to the New York Yankees on Saturday.

A day after the teams’ benches cleared when Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch, Talbot was tossed immediately by plate umpire Dan Iassogna after hitting Rodriguez.

“I mean this guy was throwing a great game. A 2-0 ballgame,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It was baffling to me that he made that decision.”

Talbot and Acta protested that Talbot didn’t do it intentionally – even though it was shortly after Curtis Granderson homered, and Rodriguez’s first at-bat since he went deep himself.

“After the situation we had last night, and Alex hit a big home run last night and hit another home run today, and Curtis Granderson hit a home run last night and another one today, he threw the pitch directly at him,” Iassogna told a pool reporter.

Talbot said he told Iassogna that he slipped on the wet mound. A fine mist fell all afternoon.

“I told him it’s wet. There’s a big hole in there,” Talbot said “I kind of landed on the side, slid in. It was a two-seam. If you’re going to hit somebody, you hit them with a four-seamer. You try to get it in there. It’s a tough break.”

Added Talbot: “He said ‘You slipped at the wrong time.’”

It was the sixth time a Yankees batter has been hit this homestand. Both Girardi and Rodriguez described the plunking as “fishy.”

“When is the right time to slip? With anybody else at the plate?” Acta said. “I mean so anybody else would have gotten it and no problem. I felt that that was uncalled for.”

Injustice or not, the Indians have bigger problems. They have lost 13-of-17, still clinging to first place in the AL Central for one more day, at least.

With the Tigers’ 8-1 win over Seattle on Saturday, the Indians are just one percentage point ahead of the Tigers, .548 to .547.

The Indians got the tying run to the plate with nobody out in the eighth, but David Robertson struck out Michael Brantley, Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore to end the threat.

“It’s disappointing,” Acta said. “We had a couple of guys on. We had the right people up, guys that are swinging the bat good. We weren’t able to push one across. That’s the way things have been going for us offensively.”

Colon (5-3) kept Cleveland in check Saturday. Famously traded in 2002 by the Indians for three minor leaguers who went on to become All-Stars, Colon was working on a gem against his first big league team. He limped off in the top of the seventh after retiring Shin-Soo Choo while covering first base.

The Yankees said Colon strained his left hamstring. He struck out six over 62⁄3 innings to win for the third straight start after two losses in his previous five. He lowered his ERA to 3.10, best among the Yankees’ starters.

After the game, he went to a hospital for an MRI.

“It’s not what you want, that’s for sure,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s pitched extremely well, and we’ll kind of keep our fingers crossed.”

The Yankees made it 3-0 in the seventh when Jorge Posada singled into the right-field corner. Choo had trouble coming up with the ball and Nick Swisher came home.

Teixeira homered off Vinnie Pestano in the eighth to make it 4-0.

A-Rod opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a line-drive shot into a strong wind blowing in from left field for only the second hit off Talbot (2-3). Granderson then hit his 20th homer of the season deep to right in the sixth.

The Indians have been shut out three times in their last seven games. Their slide began May 24 with a 4-2 loss to Boston that ended a four-game winning streak. They began that day with a seven-game lead in the division.

Now it’s all but gone.

“Hopefully one of these days the offense will come alive again,” Acta said.

TODAY

• WHO: Cleveland at New York
• TIME: 1:05 p.m.
• WHERE: Yankee Stadium, New York
• PITCHERS: Tomlin (7-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Garcia (4-5, 3.86)
• TV/RADIO: Channel 3, SportsTime Ohio, TBS; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

ELYRIA – Elyria High School’s 2011 graduating class has the same goals as an astronaut, according to graduating senior Rosemary Behmer. They both want to leave, and they both desire to change the world.

It’s also true that both are pioneers, and not just because that’s the high school’s mascot. The class that graduated Saturday evening is the first to do so in the era of the new high school.

Superintendent Paul Rigda, in his speech before nearly 430 graduates, praised the class for its ability to transition out of the old building.

“You left behind the old Elyria High School and watched as it turned to rubble,” he said. “You looked to embrace the present” and look to the future.

The crowd clapped and cheered at every mention of the new high school building, which opened for students in the fall after a massive $70 million renovation and new construction.

Friends and family of the graduates filled the grandstand and other bleachers at the high school football stadium where the ceremony was held. Hundreds more stood along a chain link fence that separates the field from the fans. So many people came that an auxiliary police officer was standing guard at the entranceway to the stadium, which had been closed because he said the stadium was filled to capacity.

Speeches that were given by Rigda, senior speaker Behmer and Principal Daren Conley were mostly inaudible due to the quality of the sound system at the stadium, but that gave the crowd all the more incentive to snap away photos and shout out the names of their loved ones.

Conley, who will be the athletic director beginning next school year, thanked the graduates for their patience, understanding and leadership throughout their high school careers, and instructed them to have  a “wonderful life,” both for themselves and the world.

“That is, after all, what Pioneers do,” he said.

Behmer also had some closing words for her classmates. In keeping with the astronaut theme, she asked everyone not to forget where they came from, and to always remember Elyria High School.

“As you’re floating about out there, look back at Earth,” she said.

Contact Adam Wright at 329-7155 or awright@chroniclet.com.