Jazz Chisholm Jr. comes off IL, hits decisive HR for Yankees

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees had been missing their cool Jazz.

Sidelined since April 29 by a strained right oblique, Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove Tanner Bibee’s first pitch of the seventh inning toward the right-center stands. He shuffled up the first-base line, holding his bat, convinced it was a tiebreaking home run.

And it was, barely, caught by a fan in the first row, 358 feet from home plate.

“Our hitting coach told me a story about Reggie Jackson,” Chisholm said after Tuesday night’s 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians. “He hit a homer that barely went over the fence. And he was like, ‘Hey, Reggie, how did you know that was gone?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I hit 567 (actually 563) of them.’ So I told my coach, my story is that I’ve hit 1,000 homers in my dreams, so I had to know that one was gone, right?”

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Chisholm went 2 for 3, also blooping a fifth-inning single for the Yankees’ first hit and scoring on DJ LeMahieu’s single. Anthony Volpe went deep six pitches after Chisholm, giving New York back-to-back homers for the fifth time this season.

“Honestly, I pictured a 3 for 3, but I’d take a 2 for 3,” Chisholm said.

He returned to third base, his position with the Yankees last year, after making 29 starts at second through April 29, when he got hurt at Baltimore. New York manager Aaron Boone decided to leave LeMahieu at second, where he’s started since coming back from a spring training calf injury on May 13.

Chisholm didn’t complain about the position switch and gushed: “This is my favorite organization I’ve ever been a part of.”

“I just want to win. I want a ring,” Chisholm said. “You got (Aaron) Judge. You got Volpe, and they come and talk to you and when you have such a good relationship with the manager, I mean, you don’t mind doing anything for a guy that you have a good friendship with.”

An All-Star with Miami in 2022, the 27-year-old played middle infield for the Marlins from 2020-22, was moved to center field from 2023-24, then inserted at third when the Yankees acquired him in a trade last July 27.

“Everyone’s really pumped for him and happy for us that he’s back helping us,” Volpe said. “He’s just so smooth and has such a great arm that you can play wherever you want to play with him over there.”

Wearing a baby blue, 11 1/2-inch glove from his own company, Absolutely Ridiculous Innovation for Athletes (ARIA), Chisholm grabbed Ángel Martínez’s grounder down the line in the third and made a strong one-hop throw to first from foul territory for an inning-ending out. The glove is intended to be used for Father’s Day on June 15 and Chisholm started to break it in during three rehab games last week at Double-A Somerset.

“Sometimes you catch the ball over there at third base and you look at the first baseman and you’re like, wow, he’s pretty far,” Chisholm said.

He is batting just .194 with eight homers and 18 RBI. But in addition to his bat and glove, Chisholm adds a vivacious personality.

“Really excited to have him back and good to see him have that kind of impact right away,” Boone said.

Devin Williams, back as closer after Luke Weaver strained a hamstring, allowed Carlos Santana’s one-out double and pinch-hitter Daniel Schneemann’s two-out RBI single in the ninth, then retired Bo Naylor on a flyout for his sixth save as AL East-leading New York won for the 11th time in 14 games.

During spring training, Boone and the Yankees talked of Chisholm combining with Volpe, the third-year shortstop, on an exiting double-play combination.

“I really thought I was done at third base,” Chisholm said. “I thought I left my career over there with a good stamp, but I guess we’re back again. We got to shine again. We can’t let that reputation go down at third base.”