DETROIT -- Derek Jeter doesn't leave many games early, so watching the captain leave the field in the fifth inning on Monday must have been a strange sight for the Yankees.

Luckily for the Bombers, the shortstop appears to have sidestepped any severe injury, as he suffered what manager Joe Torre called a "mild sprain" of his right hand.

Jeter said he would be back in the lineup on Tuesday. He and Alex Rodriguez are the only Yankees to start each of the Yankees' 49 games this season.

"It's possible that he'll miss tomorrow, but more probable that he'll play," Torre said.

The Yankees announced during the game that Jeter had jammed his hand while sliding into second base in the third inning, and that he was removed for precautionary reasons in order to ice the hand.

Jeter, however, was unsure exactly when he suffered the injury, which is directly beneath his index finger.

"I don't know if I did it swinging or sliding," Jeter said. "When I was throwing between innings, that's when it bothered me. It was kind of irritating [me] squeezing [the ball]."

After Torre watched Jeter try to bunt in the top of the fifth, someone on the bench mentioned to the manager that Jeter had banged up his hand. Jeter tried to lobby to remain in the game, but Torre didn't want to take any chances.

"I didn't win that one," Jeter said. "I tried."

"He said, 'I'm all right,'" Torre said. "The way he said it to me, I knew if he was all right, he would stay in the game. When I said I was going to take him out, he didn't say anything."

Jeter, who entered Monday with an American League-best .352 average, finished the day 0-for-3 with an RBI, lowering his average to .347.

Jeter played in 159 games last season and 154 in 2004. He spent 36 games on the disabled list at the beginning of the 2003 season after dislocating his left shoulder on Opening Day in Toronto.