DETROIT — For one day, Jazz Chisholm Jr. was the face of everything that looked wrong with the New York Yankees. A day later, he was the reason they stopped the bleeding.
The turnaround took 24 hours and one swing, two runs, and two scores.
Chisholm hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday night, lifting the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. The home run snapped a three-game losing streak. It also closed the book on a strange off-field story that had dominated the previous day.
The story involved a piece of candy.
The Blow Pop that started it all
During Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Tigers, Chisholm was caught on camera at second base with a green apple Blow Pop in his mouth. He kept it there for an inning while playing defense. The image spread quickly and did not sit well in a clubhouse already mired in a slump.
Manager Aaron Boone addressed it the next morning on the Jomboy Media podcast. He made clear the moment annoyed him. He revisited it again before Tuesday’s game, then tried to lower the temperature, saying it was not a major issue.
The optics were the problem. A struggling team. A viral candy clip. A second baseman appearing casual on defense during a loss. The story had legs heading into Tuesday.
Chisholm chose not to fuel it further when reporters asked for details about the conversation with his manager.
“We’re just gonna keep that private,” Chisholm said of the lollipop situation.
The homer that flipped the script
The answer came on the field. With the Yankees trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning, Paul Goldschmidt reached on an infield single. Chisholm followed and drove a Casey Mize pitch to right-center for a two-run homer and a 3-2 lead.
It was his 12th home run of the season. The Yankees are now 11-1 in games Chisholm homers this year. The candy story made the moment unforgettable. What he did next made it viral all over again.
Chisholm returned to the dugout, picked up the tub of Blow Pops sitting on the bench, and held it up to the television cameras. The taunt was deliberate. The message was clear. He had heard the noise, and he answered it with the bat.
Boone, who had been irritated a day earlier, fully embraced the bit after the win. He leaned into the nickname his second baseman had earned overnight.
“The lollipop kid came through tonight. He can have all the lollipops he wants now,” Boone said, before adding one condition. “As long as he doesn’t take it out to second base with him, we’re good.”
Chisholm’s bat backs up the bravado
The swagger is easier to accept because the production has been real. Chisholm has quietly become one of the steadiest bats in the Yankees lineup.
He posted a .650 OPS through his first 45 games. Over his last 30 games, that mark has jumped to .853. The early-season version and the current version barely resemble each other.
The split is even sharper at the start of the year. Through his first 21 games, Chisholm hit .164 with a .498 OPS. Since then, he has hit .255 with an .818 OPS. The slow start has been buried by a long, productive stretch.
His all-around game has carried weight beyond the box score. Chisholm ranks among the MLB leaders in combined stolen bases and home runs this season. His 35 trail only Bobby Witt Jr.’s 38, and he is tied with Oneil Cruz and Pete Crow-Armstrong. Jose Ramirez sits one behind at 34.
The power, the speed, and the defense have made him a daily contributor for a Yankees team weathering injuries to Aaron Judge and others.
What the win means for the Yankees
The victory carried more weight than a single game in June. The Yankees had dropped three in a row, including the first two of this series to the Tigers. Detroit had won four straight and looked like the hotter team.
Chisholm finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He scored in the fourth on a Jose Caballero groundout before his sixth-inning blast put the Yankees ahead for good.
The win moved the Yankees to 47-31, the best record in the American League. They opened a three-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost to the Royals earlier in the evening.
Chisholm and the Yankees take the field again Wednesday night for the series finale. The lollipop saga is over. The player at the center of it is swinging one of the hottest bats in the lineup, and his manager is no longer arguing about candy.
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