ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees had done the hard part. They had scored to take the lead. Twice. Then a single ground ball undid all of it.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. dropped a routine chopper in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday, letting Chandler Simpson score the winning run as the Tampa Bay Rays walked off New York 5-4 at Tropicana Field. The loss extended the Yankees’ skid to four straight games and dropped their record to 8-6.
What happened on that final play was painful enough. What Chisholm said after the game made it harder to watch for the Yankees.
The play that changed everything
The Yankees entered the bottom of the 10th with a 4-3 lead. David Bednar, called on to close it out, ran into trouble immediately.
Chandler Simpson laid down a bunt single, the fastest player in baseball reaching easily while moving automatic runner Cedric Mullins to third. Taylor Walls bunted next. Bednar threw home but could not beat Mullins, tying the game at 4.
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone responded by intentionally walking Yandy Diaz to load the bases. He pulled outfielder Cody Bellinger in from left field to create a five-man infield, looking to keep any grounder from getting through. Bednar struck out Hunter Feduccia for the first out.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. bobbles the ball and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees in extras 👀 pic.twitter.com/4Vy54WP1fH
Then Jonathan Aranda hit a chopper off the turf. Bellinger leapt for it but could not corral it. The ball bounced through toward Chisholm at second base. Aranda ranks in the seventh percentile in sprint speed in the majors, meaning a clean field and quick tag-and-throw combination would have ended the inning.
Chisholm never got that chance. The ball glanced off his glove.
Chisholm dropped to his knees to recover, but by then Simpson was already crossing the plate. The Rays celebrated around the Yankees infielder.
Chisholm admits he was unsure what to do
This is where the story took a harder turn for the Yankees.
Asked about the play at his locker, Chisholm appeared uncertain about what his options were, even before the bobble cost him any real chance.
“I was really going to go try to tag the runner and just throw it to first,” Chisholm said. “I don’t know what the rule is. If I went to first base first and threw it back to second, if it’s still an out. Is it still a double play? I don’t know. Does it count as not an RBI?”
Teammate Trent Grisham, sitting next door in the clubhouse, heard the answer and stepped in.
“No, they’ll score,” Grisham said.
“They’ll still score?” Chisholm asked.
“He’ll get there before the tag at third,” the Yankees outfielder said.
The exchange went viral quickly. The reason Chisholm’s original instinct was correct, even if he could not explain it: on a force play, if the final out is recorded at first base, any runner who has already crossed the plate does not count. The inning ends on the force, not the tag. But if a fielder goes to first and then tries to tag a runner, the force play disappears. A tag out does not wipe a run that scored before it.
So Chisholm’s idea to tag Diaz and throw to first was the right one. The Yankees star just could not execute it cleanly.
Boone was unsure, too
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he did not have a clean view of the play from the dugout and was not sure whether Chisholm could have tagged Diaz even with a clean field.
“Once he got off balance and to the ground, I think as soon as it was chopped, as the fielder, you realize you’re up against it there,” Boone said about Chisholm. “I have to look back and see Yandy.”
Boone also second-guessed himself on a separate decision earlier in the ninth. With two outs and runners on the corners, Randal Grichuk batted instead of a pinch-hitter. Grichuk, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner for Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth, was 0-for-10 on the season. Paul Goldschmidt and J.C. Escarra were available on the bench. Grichuk flew out to center to end the threat.
Boone called it a fair question when pressed on the choice.
“I felt like it was a good spot for him, too,” he said.
A night of missed chances for the Yankees
The Yankees went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 base runners. Jose Caballero, snapping a 1-for-29 stretch, was the one bright spot. He doubled in two runs in the eighth to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead and singled home another in the 10th to make it 4-3.
The Yankees gave back the lead both times.
Max Fried pitched eight strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits, but was left frustrated by the pattern.
“I thought for the most part, the guys did enough to win tonight and when it came down to it, the two times where I needed to go out there and put a shutdown inning, I kind of let up the momentum,” Fried said. “It’s frustrating. That’s definitely on me.”
Reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with two walks and is hitting .212. The Yankees are batting .142 as a team during the four-game losing streak, managing 18 hits in 127 at-bats with just six extra-base hits.
Chisholm did not deflect from his own role in Saturday’s result.
“It sucks,” Chisholm said. “Coming out, working hard to get back out front. Tough loss. They played good and did good baserunning, hit at the right times. We didn’t. We’ll get better with that as the season goes on, but at the same time, we didn’t execute today.”
