NEW YORK — Jazz Chisholm Jr. was upset on Tuesday night that he wasn’t in the starting lineup to face Boston Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet. The New York Yankees had just dropped Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series and when he got home, Chisholm Jr. turned on MLB: The Show, the video game in which he’s got a custom team called the New York Aliens that features Ken Griffey Jr., Jimmy Rollins and himself.
He ended up mercy ruling his opponent and, after that, felt much better about everything.
“That’s how I get my stress off,” Chisholm Jr. said.
His comments brought a wave of laughter to the press conference room at Yankee Stadium and came just minutes after New York defeated Boston, 4-3, in a thrilling victory on Wednesday night that featured several lead changes and ultimately allowed the home side to avoid elimination.
Prior to the contest, Yankees manager Aaron Boone conceded that Chisholm Jr. was upset but added, “I don’t need him to put a happy face on. I need him to go out and play his butt off for us tonight. That’s what I expect to happen.”
Lo and behold, Chisholm Jr. did just that as his fingerprints were all over the Yankees’ win.
The second baseman started a pretty double play in the third inning and that was just the start. In the seventh frame, with the game tied and the Red Sox threatening with two runners on and two out, Masataka Yoshida drove a single up the middle. Chisholm Jr. gave chase and laid out, his left arm fully outstretched, to snag the ball. While his throw to first was not in time to beat the runner, the effort was critical. If the ball gets to the outfield, Boston takes the lead.
“That was the play of the game,” said Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz. “Jazz saved us the game.”
Cruz proceeded to escape the bases-loaded jam by getting Trevor Story to fly out to deep centre and then let out an epic, demonstrative celebration as the 47,993 in attendance erupted.
“I felt like I could see every vein popping out of his head,” said first baseman Ben Rice.
“This is something that I’ve been dreaming of and imagining since I was a little kid,” said Cruz. “Emotions are going to come out.”
The Yankees carried all that momentum forward an inning later when Chisholm Jr. drew a walk off Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock and then scored from first base on Austin Wells’s single that fell just inches to the fair side of the right-field line. Chisholm Jr. went from first to home in 9.16 seconds and dove headfirst into home plate, barely avoiding the tag.
“His speed comes into play big time there,” said Boone. “Obviously, an exciting, big play.”
The manager said things are fine between him and Chisholm Jr., and the latter echoed that sentiment.
“There is never a problem between me and Aaron Boone,” he said. “We always have disagreements. I mean, I played third base this year, and we had a little bit of a disagreement in that.
“But at the end of the day, I always stand with Booney because he always understands where I come from. He knows I am a passionate player. He knows I wear my feelings on my sleeve. He knows I am there to compete.”
Meanwhile, this was a gutting loss for the Red Sox, who twice battled back from deficits. Alex Cora managed the game with clear urgency, evidenced by his decisions to remove starter Brayan Bello in the third inning and push Whitlock’s pitch count to 47 as the right-hander got through the seventh inning and trudged through the fateful eighth.
“We are all in,” Cora said. “He is one of the best pitchers we got up there. We were doing everything possible to get to the top of the ninth with a tie game.”
Since the Wild Card series entered its current format, all 12 teams that have won the first game have gone on to win the series. Cora and the Red Sox are hoping that remains the case and that they can move on to the division series for a matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays.
However, that won’t be easy given the state of the Red Sox pitching staff. Cora used six relievers on Wednesday — compared to Boone’s use of three relievers after starter Carlos Rodon chewed up six innings — and Boston is already without veteran Lucas Giolito, who’s out with an elbow issue.
The plan leading up to the three-game series was to pencil the veteran right-hander in for a start, and now Cora will hand the ball to Connelly Early, the organization’s No. 6 prospect who’s made just four major-league starts.
The left-hander will take on Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler, a fellow rookie who’s only got 14 MLB starts under his belt.
“Obviously it is going to be loud here,” said Cora. “Two rookies, Game 3, Wild Card, Yankees-Red Sox. Imagine that. Should be a fun night.”
