– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — More than a month after suffering an oblique injury, New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and his body was tested in every way conceivable immediately upon his return to the Majors on Tuesday night.
He passed every test, with each check mark leading the Yankees closer and closer to victory.
Chisholm marked his return to the Bronx with a tie-breaking solo home run to start the seventh inning as the Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 3-2 in the first match-up between the clubs since last season’s American League Championship Series. Anthony Volpe followed Chisholn’s blast with a homer of his own in support of starter Carlos Rodón, who continued his torrid form on the mound with his third consecutive quality start.
Rodón’s opposite number, Tanner Bibee, matched Carlos pitch-for-pitch for the first six innings, allowing just two hits before Chisholm Jr., who last played in a game on April 29, lined the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh two rows deep into the right field bleachers for his eighth homer of the season.
Almost as impressive as his homer was the first chance he had on the field defensively, making a backhand stop down the third base line on a grounder from Angel Martínez before firing a strong throw across the diamond that was scooped up by Paul Goldschmidt at first to end the frame.
He then scored the game’s first run in the fifth after hitting a single to left. With two outs and Chisholm on second, DJ LeMahieu hit a single to right in which Jazz raced around third and scored on a close play at home, gliding past home just ahead of the throw of right fielder Jhonkensy Noel.
Yankees reliever Devin Williams, who has struggled mightily as the closer after signing from Milwaukee as a free agent in the offseason, returned to the ninth-inning role and got the save, though he did allow two hits and a run and saw the tying runner reach second base. Williams got Guardians catcher Bo Naylor to fly out to Cody Bellinger in left to nail down the victory.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Chris Gonzalez. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are seven pictures in total.
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