A discouraging afternoon from the Yankees, in which Will Warren was knocked around and the offense scored just twice against Rockies pitching, had a silver lining.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. is looking like Jazz Chisholm Jr.
It has been just two games since he returned from a left UCL sprain, but Chisholm has shown the same kind of bat and the same kind of solid glove that helped him make such an immediate impact after coming over from the Marlins at the trade deadline.
Chisholm went 2-for-4 — the only Yankee to record multiple hits — and smacked an RBI double in the Yankees’ 9-2 loss in The Bronx.
“Very encouraged,” said Chisholm, who returned Friday after the minimum, 10 days on the injured list. “It was a step up from [Friday]. It’s time to get back to work and go win this division.”
On a day he came through with one of the Yankees’ two extra-base hits, Chisholm’s best play came defensively.
In the eighth inning, he made a sliding, backhanded stop on a ground ball from Michael Toglia. Chisholm rose in foul territory and made a strong throw across the diamond for the out.
Chisholm’s injury is to his non-throwing elbow, but his overall comfort is a positive sign regardless.
UCL sprains sometimes require surgery, so he will be worth monitoring.
“It feels great,” Chisholm said. “I have no pain in it. No thought of second-guessing myself on any play. I think we’re good.”
Giancarlo Stanton, who had homered in two straight games, sat for a day game after a night game, when the Yankees used the DH spot to give Aaron Judge half of a day off.
Manager Aaron Boone said that during this nine-games-in-nine-days stretch, the two had sketched out Stanton’s schedule and had known for a while that he wouldn’t start Saturday, particularly against a righty starter when the Yankees are set to face four lefties in a row beginning Sunday.
“This is the day that made the most sense,” said Boone, who played Trent Grisham in center field.
DJ LeMahieu said he was feeling better after getting scratched from the lineup a night earlier, when a ball struck him in the face during infield warmups.
LeMahieu passed concussion testing and was available off the bench.
Anthony Rizzo texted Boone on Saturday and said he “feels great,” Boone said.
Rizzo began a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset on Friday and went 0-for-1 with two walks.
“Looked good,” Boone said of Rizzo. “Looked like he’s seeing the ball well.”
Infielder Jon Berti (left calf strain) and righty Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) were expected to begin rehab assignments with Somerset.
On the day Alex Rodriguez made his official return to The Bronx as a Yankee, Boone grew nostalgic.
The two are forever connected.
Had Boone not torn his left ACL playing a pickup game of basketball in January 2004, the Yankees wouldn’t have traded for Rodriguez.
After his home run in Game 7 of the ALCS the previous October sent the Yankees to the World Series, Boone was released six weeks after the injury.
Playing basketball violated the guaranteed terms of the $5.75 million, one-year contract he had signed.
“The process was I got hurt on a Friday night, I knew it probably wasn’t good. I cried my way home,” Boone said on Old-Timers’ Day. “Then it was about getting it right. I know I need to go see the doctor, MRI, do that stuff, tell the Yankees. Talked to my dad [Bob] a lot. There was no strategy. It’s just this is what happened, got to get it fixed.”
Boone made it back to the majors with the Guardians (then the Indians) in 2005, and also had stints with the Nationals, Marlins and Astros before retiring in 2009.
Who knows what would’ve happened to his career if not for that torn ACL.
He tries not to think about it.
“I understand what happened, and I guess you reflect on it a little back,” Boone said. “But I don’t look back on ‘what if.’ My journey is my journey. I’ve been blessed and proud of it. I feel like my entire life I’ve been where I’m supposed to be.”