Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. weighs in with go-ahead homer in Game 3
The Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts as he rounds the bases on his solo home run during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in ALDS Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Fox cameras caught Jazz Chisholm Jr. yawning during the top of the third inning in Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Blue Jays, and fan criticism flooded social media in response.
But all was forgotten about an hour later when an awakened Chisholm launched the go-ahead solo home run in the fifth, giving the Yankees a lead they never surrendered in a 9-6 win in front of 47,399 at the Stadium on Tuesday night. They now are in a 2-1 hole in the best-of-five series.
“It felt great helping my team take the lead right there,” said Chisholm, who unleashed an emphatic bat flip before his 409-foot, 109.3-mph homer knocked off the side of the second deck in rightfield. “Crucial game. It felt great.”
While Aaron Judge (3-for-4, four RBIs) certainly was the hero with a game-tying three-run homer off Louis Varland in the fourth, Chisholm was his top sidekick.
Chisholm’s homer, which gave the Yankees a 7-6 lead, also came off Varland, a flame-throwing righthander whose fastball averages 98.1 mph and can exceed 100. It was on a 1-and-1, 99.4-mph four-seamer in the lower part of the strike zone.
“That's putting a really good swing on a heater there, and that's what Jazz is capable of,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He changes the game in a lot of different ways.”
Chisholm (1-for-3) entered Tuesday’s game hitting .188 (3-for-16) in the postseason, and he had a flyout and a walk in his first two plate appearances.
“Jazz, he was having good at-bats all game,” Judge said. “I talked to him. I don't think he had a hit yet, but I was just talking to him, ‘Hey, man, you're having great at-bats. Stay right there, stay aggressive. You got two more big ones.’
“Once he sends that one in the seats, it was like, all right, let's try to add on because you know at any moment those guys can put a four-spot on you at any moment. Just happy with how the offense responded and pitching staff responded, and live to see another day.”
The Yankees trailed 3-1 with Toronto runners on first and second when the cameras captured Chisholm’s yawn. They were in a 6-1 deficit after 2 1/2 innings, and all early signs pointed toward a sweep.
“Baseball is a hard game,” Chisholm said. “So I mean, if you're thinking about being discouraged, you would be discouraged every day. So for us, we just keep on riding the wave and trusting our teammates that someone's going to pick us up, and that's what we did today. We just made sure that nobody tried to do extra. Nobody tried to be the hero today, and that's how we won this game.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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