BRONX, NY — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw how displeased Jazz Chisholm Jr. was in the clubhouse following their 3-1 loss in Game 1 of their American League Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night when he was asked about being omitted from the starting lineup.
While he didn’t necessarily agree with it, he’s not going to lose any sleep about it. He posted Chisholm in the No. 6 spot for Game 2 against right-hander Brayan Bello.
“He is a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Boone said prior to Game 2 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. “Wasn’t necessarily how I would handle it, but then again, I don’t need him to put a happy face on. I need him to go out and play his butt off for us tonight. That’s what I expect to happen.”
Jazz Chisholm miffed at not being in starting lineup in Yankees’ Game 1 Wild Card loss to Red Sox
Sifting through his locker on Tuesday night, Chisholm kept his back to the media when he was asked whether or not he was surprised about being benched for the postseason opener.
“I guess,” the 27-year-old second baseman curtly said, adding there was “little conversation” in Boone’s decision to go with Amed Rosario over him against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet.
Boone cited Rosario’s previous success this season against Boston’s ace, going 5-for-8 with a home run and two RBI during the regular season. He went 0-for-3 before being replaced by Chisholm for defense in the eigth, while the Yankees couldn’t touch Crochet save for Anthony Volpe’s second-inning solo home run.
“Every player is not going to agree with every decision that I have to make, and that’s OK,” Boone said. “I try and help make them understand that thought process and what I’m thinking, and I did that with Jazz.”
The abruptness of a three-game series, though, intensifies the need for any and all sparkplugs. Chisholm is certainly that, as he hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases — one of seven men in Major League Baseball to join the 30-30 club this season.
He and fellow lefty bat Ben Rice accounted for 57 runs that were left on Boone’s bench for most of the night.
Crochet went 7.2 innings, allowed that singular run on four hits with 11 strikeouts and zero walks. Between Volpe’s two hits on the night, which included an eighth-inning single, the All-Star southpaw retired 17 Yankees in a row.
