Jazz Chisholm Jr. was back in the New York Yankees‘ starting lineup Wednesday night in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox.
A left-handed hitter, the two-time All-Star began the opener on the bench with the Yankees facing ace left-hander Garrett Crochet. Chisholm entered on defense in the eighth inning and flied out to medium right field against lefty closer Aroldis Chapman with the bases loaded for the second out of the ninth, failing to drive in a run.
That was Chisholm’s only plate appearance in a 3-1 loss that left New York on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three series.
After the game, the dynamic second baseman seemed upset about not starting — although he said the way he looks at it is the Yankees have to do whatever they need to do to win and that he trusts his teammates to come through.
But his back was turned to reporters while he answered several questions at his locker. Chisholm said manager Aaron Boone texted him Monday night to let him know he wouldn’t be in the Game 1 lineup.
“I did see that,” Boone said Wednesday afternoon. “Every player is not going to agree with every decision that I make. I try and help make them understand my thought process and what I am thinking. I did that with Jazz. He is a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve. So, wasn’t necessarily how I handled it, but 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.”
Boone said he did have a conversation with Chisholm about the potential move.
“We talked the day before,” the manager told Yankees beat reporters. “We spoke about it. I think he understood, and then obviously he’s a guy that’s not the most vanilla guy. He’s going to wear his emotions on his sleeve sometimes.”
Amed Rosario played second base in Chisholm’s place Tuesday night and batted fifth. A right-handed hitter, Rosario was 6 for 9 with a home run and a double in his career against Crochet before going 0 for 3 in the playoff opener.
Chisholm is 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and a walk against Crochet.
“We talked about it in my office before when I was considering it and thinking about it,” Boone said. “Yeah, that was it. We talked about potentially getting him in that game early.”
New York also put two other dangerous left-handed hitters on the bench against Crochet in Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon. Neither got in the game.
With right-hander Brayan Bello on the mound Wednesday night for the Red Sox, Chisholm was back at second base and batting sixth. Rice was at first base and McMahon at third.
Chisholm made his second All-Star team this season and batted .242 with 31 homers, 80 RBIs, 31 stolen bases and an .813 OPS in 130 games. He was one of a record seven major league players this year to have a 30-30 season.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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