DETROIT — The New York Yankees needed a spark to end a rough week. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the outfield gave them one Tuesday night.
Chisholm hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Yankees rallied past the Detroit Tigers 4-3 at Comerica Park. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and ended Detroit’s four-game run.
The comeback leaned on two things the Yankees had been missing during the skid. Timely power and defense that swung the game. Chisholm supplied the power. The outfield supplied the defense, twice.
For a club still without Aaron Judge, the formula was a welcome change after a rough week.
Two outfield plays save the Yankees
Detroit jumped ahead with two runs in the third inning. Zach McKinstry singled with one out. Ben Malgeri, the debutant right-handed hitting outfielder, singled on the first pitch he saw to put runners on. McKinstry scored on a Carlos Rodon wild pitch. Malgeri came home on Dillon Dingler’s base hit.
The Yankees trimmed the gap in the fourth. Chisholm scored on Jose Caballero’s RBI groundout to make it 2-1.
The first defensive gem came right after. With the Tigers threatening to extend the lead, Cody Bellinger threw out Riley Greene at the plate to end the bottom of the fourth. The outfield assist kept the deficit at one run.
The second came in the seventh, and it was just as big. Malgeri singled to right again, his second hit of the night. Rookie Kevin McGonigle then hit a sinking liner to right. Right fielder Jasson Dominguez first had second thought, but he made a shoestring catch and doubled Malgeri off first base.
The Tigers challenged the play, arguing that Dominguez trapped the ball. The replay was inconclusive, and the initial out call stood. Detroit had now lost a runner at the plate and another doubled off first, costly outs in a game decided by a single run.
Chisholm answers with the go-ahead blast
The sixth inning belonged to Chisholm. Paul Goldschmidt beat out a rare infield single with one out, hustling down the line to beat the throw. Chisholm came up next and turned on a Casey Mize pitch, driving it to right-center for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Yankees lead.
It was Chisholm’s 12th home run of the season and his sixth in his last 18 games. The second baseman has been on a tear at the plate, and the timing could not have been sharper.
The Yankees kept pushing. Caballero followed with a two-out single that chased Mize after 5 2/3 innings. Reliever Tyler Holton entered, and Austin Wells greeted him with an RBI double to make it 4-2.
Chisholm finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He was the engine of the offense on a night the Yankees badly needed someone to be.
The lollipop backstory that framed the night
Chisholm’s big night carried extra weight because of what happened 24 hours earlier. During Monday’s 5-3 loss, he was spotted on defense at Comerica Park sucking on a green lollipop. The image went viral and drew a response from his manager.
“I was annoyed by it. I addressed it. And at the end of the day, it’s not that big of a deal,” Aaron Boone said on the Jomboy Media podcast before the game.
Chisholm offered his own answer with the bat. After his sixth-inning homer, he returned to the Yankees dugout, found the lollipop bucket, and made sure the cameras caught it. The display read as confidence on a night when his performance backed it up.
“The lollipop kid came through tonight,” Boone said after the win. “He can have all the lollipops he wants now… as long as he doesn’t take it out to second base with him, we’re good.”
Rodon grinds and the bullpen holds
Rodon was not at his sharpest, but he kept the Yankees close enough to rally. The left-hander allowed three runs on six hits with two walks over 5 1/3 innings. He improved to 4-2 and picked up the win.
Three relievers closed it out. Detroit got one back in the sixth when Dingler and Matt Vierling opened with back-to-back doubles to make it 4-3. The Yankees bullpen allowed nothing else.
David Bednar recorded the final four outs for his 15th save. He closed a one-run game on the road against a team that had been rolling, and he did it without drama.
Mize took the loss for Detroit, falling to 2-5. He gave up four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. The Yankees offense, which had gone quiet during weekend losses to the Reds, finally found the timely hits it had been chasing.
The win moved the Yankees to 47-31, still 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. New York takes the field Wednesday night to try for the series win. Tigers ace left-hander Tarik Skubal, 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA, faces Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers, 2-5 with a 4.13 ERA. After three straight losses, the Yankees head into the finale with momentum back on their side.
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