Mark Teixeira suffered a scare in the sixth inning when a bullet off the bat of Jason Heyward hit him in the left heel and caromed all the way to Robinson Cano near second base. The infield hit drove in what proved to be the winning run in the Braves' 4-3 win over the Yankees tonight that ended the home team's 10-game winning streak.

But for a moment there, it looked as if the Yankees might lose more than just a ballgame on the play.

"That was maybe the hardest ball I've ever had hit at me,'' Teixeira said. "I thought I could get a glove on it but it stayed down and hit me right in the heel. It’s a little sore but hopefully not too bad.''

Tex stayed in the game and wound up being a central figure in the most important play of the night, a grounder he hit right at Chipper Jones at third base that resulted in Curtis Granderson getting thrown out at the plate with what would have been the tying run.

"They made a lot of big plays,'' Teixeira said. "They came up big when they needed to. When you win 10 in a row or whatever it was, a lot of the breaks go your way. None of the breaks went our way tonight. It’s just one of those losses. We’ll try to start another streak tomorrow.''

Teixeira said he would "absolutely'' play in Wednesday afternoon's finale against the Braves. "You always play through things,'' he said. "So I'll be OK.''