Jazz Chisholm is enjoying playing for the New York Yankees. Starting at third base and batting sixth in the lineup Monday, the Yankees’ newest addition hit two home runs in a 14-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Chisholm hit his first home run as a Yankee in the second inning, going opposite-field off Zack Wheeler to give New York a 2-0 lead. He went deep again in the ninth against Garrett Stubbs, Philly’s reserve catcher who was giving the bullpen a break while playing with with an eight-run deficit.
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Stubbs attempted to throw off Chisholm’s timing with a 65 mph eephus pitch. The five-year veteran wasn’t fooled and crushed the slow, high-arching pitch far into the right-field seats. Outfielder Nick Castellanos didn’t even move as he watched the fly ball go over him.
Chisholm used a special bat for home run
After the home run, Chisholm revealed to TV cameras that he used captain and three-time home-run champion Aaron Judge’s bat.
He had a big smile on his face as he talked about the home run with reporters at his locker postgame. He also revealed that he got Judge’s blessing in advance.
“Definitely not gonna use that again tomorrow,” Chisholm said. “That bat was so heavy. I was just like ‘I don’t think I ever got a hit against a position player ’til tonight.’
“I was like, ‘you know what, Cap? I’m either gonna go up there right-handed or I’m gonna go use your bat.’ He was like ‘go ahead, use my bat.’ It just worked.”
Chisholm, 26, was acquired from the Miami Marlins on Saturday in exchange for three minor-league prospects. The expectation is that he will eventually play center field, allowing the Yankees to move Judge to a less demanding corner outfield position.
Judge also hit two home runs for the Yankees on Monday. But that kind of outburst is expected from the MLB leader in the category, who now has 39 homers on the season, seven ahead of Shohei Ohtani.
For now, however, Chisholm will play third base after Gleyber Torres balked at moving there from second base. The Yankees are looking for better production and defense at the position than Oswaldo Cabrera (.246 average, .646 OPS) has been providing. Prior to Monday, Chisholm had never played third base in his major-league career.
With a 2-for-4 night, Chisholm boosted his average to .251 with a .745 OPS, 13 home runs, 50 RBI and 23 stolen bases this year. In a Yankees uniform, he’s batting .333 with a 1.400 OPS.
