HOUSTON — Jazz Chisholm Jr. continued to show signs of life in Space City on Friday, tallying four RBI in the New York Yankees’ 12-4, series-opening win over the Houston Astros.
The second baseman’s performance included his second home run of the season, as well as his second in as many days. That came in the fourth inning when Chisholm pulled a changeup from Lance McCullers Jr. for a bases-empty blast. Ripped at 106.5 mph, the laser landed 393 feet away less than five seconds later.
Chisholm, no stranger to the long ball despite his early-season power outage, immediately admired the blast.
Chisholm, who finished the game 3 for 4, picked up his first ribbies in the opening frame, lining a two-run single off the right-handed McCullers. Another RBI followed in the seventh when Chisholm knocked one off the left-handed Colton Gordon.
While Chisholm is only hitting .213 with a .637 OPS, Friday marked his second productive day in a row. On Thursday, he went 2 for 4 in the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. By hooking a solo shot around the Pesky Pole, the lefty swinger finally hit his first dinger of the year off Boston southpaw Payton Tolle.
Chisholm also had a 101.1-mph single off Danny Coulombe and a 103.8-mph groundout off Tyler Samaniego in that game. With those pitchers also throwing with their left arms, Aaron Boone said that Thursday was “probably [Chisholm’s] best group of at-bats” this season.
The timing of Chisholm’s sudden production isn’t a coincidence, as he said that he made a few adjustments in the batter’s box on Thursday. Among them: he backed off the plate and closed his stance a bit.
Those changes were things he worked on with Yankees hitting coaches, who made similar suggestions when Chisholm struggled for a stretch last year. If the past two games are any indication, the tweaks are working.
Chisholm wasn’t the only Yankee to go yard on Friday, as Ryan McMahon (2nd inning), Ben Rice (7th inning) and José Caballero (7th inning) also launched solo shots.
Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton had an RBI single in the sixth before exiting with right lower leg tightness later in the inning. He departed after gingerly running from second to third on a J.C. Escarra single.
On the mound, Will Warren gave the Yankees a solid six innings, totaling seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts over 95 pitches. Fernando Cruz allowed two more runs in relief, serving up homers to Yainer Diaz and Braden Shewmake in the seventh.