One night after riding the bench for the first eight innings, Jazz Chisholm Jr. helped win a do-or-die postseason game in the eighth inning Wednesday.
Both Chisholm and fellow Game 1 benchwarmer Ben Rice put their stamps on the New York Yankees‘ dramatic 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series.
Chisholm, whose postgame protest after being benched made waves in New York, and Rice each were out of New York’s lineup for Game 1, neutralized by Boston’s elite left-hander Garrett Crochet. But Rice homered, and Chisholm scored the go-ahead run from first base on Austin Wells‘ RBI single in the eighth inning.
The Yankees were the third team to force a Game 3 on Wednesday after losing Game 1 on Tuesday. Only two teams had ever forced a Game 3 in 20 previous Wild Card Series since MLB went to a best-of-3 format in 2022.
Game 3 will be at Yankee Stadium again on Thursday at 8:08 p.m. ET.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. ‘Was Going To Score’ In Eighth Inning
Chisholm had been held in check at the plate for most of Wednesday.
Yet, when Chisholm worked a walk against Boston reliever Garrett Whitlock with two outs in the eighth inning, he knew his wheels had to come into play. Chisholm stole a career-high 31 bases during the regular season, en route to his first 30-30 season of his six-season major-league career.
“I told the [Boston] first baseman [Nathaniel Lowe] that ‘any ball that was hit to left [field] or right, I was going to score,’” Chisholm told Meredith Marakovits of YES Network. “That was all that was going through my mind. If he gets a ball to any corner or any gap, I’m scoring.”
Wells obliged by lofting a soft line drive over Lowe’s head that took a Yankee Stadium hop off fence and jutted away from right fielder Nate Eaton. All the while, Chisholm sailed around the bases — taking just 9.16 seconds to go from first base to home, according to YES.
It was a total about face from Chisholm’s postgame reaction Tuesday, where he turned his back on reporters and acted upset by his lack of playing time.
“I feel like we all believe in each other, and we believe on passing it on to the next guy,” Chisholm said. “Tomorrow we feel like that’s what we’re going to do.”
Prior to his dash around the bases, Chisholm’s primary impact was on defense. He started a highlight-reel double play that ended the third inning — on Alex Bregman’s 102.1mph ground ball. He then saved a run in the seventh inning by diving to keep Mastaka Yoshida’s sharp ground ball in the infield for a single — Yoshida’s ground ball had an expected batting average of .460, per Statcast.
The double play they turned — on Bregman, to his left — was special,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “To save a run with the infield hit on Yoshida was excellent.”
Ben Rice Put The Yankees On Top
Though Chisholm’s benching — and subsequent reaction to it — was the headline from Game 1, that Ben Rice did not play in Game 1 was something of a surprise too.
Rice did platoon with Game 1 starter at first base Paul Goldschmidt, especially against left-handed pitching, since Goldschmidt had a .981 OPS against lefties.
But Rice closed the season with a hot streak, slashing .375/.419/.750 over his final 12 games. Then Rice put the Yankees on the board first with a rocket, two-home homer to right field off Boston starter Brayan Bello — who had held the Yankees to a .510 OPS and pitched to a 1.89 ERA in three regular-season starts.
“Benny is swinging the bat so well, especially here down the stretch,” Boone said.
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