Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Yankees two ugly defensive moments in Monday night’s Game 2 loss to the Rays, and the second one is the kind of play that lingers.
Chisholm is a much better player than his loudest critics will admit, but after 2.5 years in Yankees pinstripes, the frustration around him is hard to miss. The first-inning miscue set the tone. Trying to do too much on a no-chance double-play pivot, he uncorked a wild throw that handed the Rays their only run through the first four innings and left Cam Schlittler rattled.
Still, that wasn’t the play that will define the night.
The real backbreaker came in the fifth, with runners on second and third and nobody out, while Schlittler was hanging on. Liam Hicks chopped a slow roller to second, and the Yankees had a chance to keep the game tied.
Maybe Chisholm could have made the play at the plate. It would have been close, especially with Jonathan Aranda moving slowly.
But Chisholm never really gave himself a shot, because he was the only Yankees infielder not playing in.
That drew a sharp reaction from Joba Chamberlain, a member of the 2009 championship team, who posted: "Was it just me or was everyone on the grass and Jazz wasn’t?"
The inning kept unraveling after that. The Yankees gave up three more runs, and a game that was already slipping away turned into another reminder of how messy their baseball can look when the pressure climbs.
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