A day after saying he's 'sucked,' Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays hero in win over Pirates

Gary Philips, New York Daily News on Jul 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Typically a man of many words, Jazz Chisholm Jr. offered a succinct summary of his season on Sunday night.

The second baseman had just played the part of hero, launching an eighth-inning solo shot that spared the New York Yankees from being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series and a doubleheader. But when the focus of his postgame interview shifted from his most recent at-bat to his overall play, Chisholm criticized himself.

“I’ve sucked all season,” he said. “The numbers speak for themselves.”

Chisholm said that after raising his OPS to .705 on Sunday. Indeed, it’s been a disappointing year for the 28-year-old, who joined the 30-30 club last season and entered the 2026 campaign with his sights set on securing a mega-millions contract this winter.

In between Sunday’s games, Aaron Boone reiterated that Chisholm is “one of those guys we expect a lot of,” the implication being that he has not met those expectations with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge-less offense scuffling. “He hasn’t gone on that real, real hot streak yet at any point this year,” the manager continued.

If the Yankees are lucky, such a streak began Sunday night, as Chisholm carried momentum into Monday’s series-opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. With two home runs off All-Star righty Braxton Ashcraft, Chisholm spearheaded the Yankees’ lineup in an 8-5 win.

The left-handed hitter is now batting .228 with a .726 OPS, 16 dingers, 43 RBI and 26 stolen bases this season after going 2 for 4 on Monday.

Chisholm’s first jack of the game came in the opening inning, and after the Yankees had already scored a run on a two-error play from the Pirates’ defense. With two men on, Chisholm turned on a curveball that hung over the heart of the plate and dropped it in Yankee Stadium’s right-field seats.

The second longball off Chisholm’s bat came on a slider and at the end of a seven-pitch battle. A go-ahead line drive into the second deck near the right field foul pole, Chisholm leaned over home plate and watched the two-run rocket sail. Once he realized the ball had stayed fair, he flipped his bat and pounded his chest as he turned toward the Yankees’ dugout.

That’s the type of scene the Bombers would like to see more often in the second half. Chisholm’s bank account surely wouldn’t mind either, but consistency has been hard to come by for him this season, as Boone noted on Sunday.

“He got off to the slow start, obviously, in April, and I feel like he’s kind of settled in for the last few months, but it’s just been kind of up and down,” the manager said. “Not those stretches where he can really change the game in a lot of different ways offensively, and we gotta get him there.”

But Chisholm certainly changed the Yankees’ last two games. His latter performance helped them overcome a subpar outing from Ryan Weathers, who allowed five earned runs after being handed a 4-0 lead.

José Caballero also helped the Yankees fend off the Pirates, adding a two-run double after Chisholm went deep in the third inning. The pesky utilityman also played a part in a bench-clearing, as former Yankee Dennis Santana seemed to take exception to Caballero’s use of the pitch clock, as he waited until the last second to engage during his eighth-inning at-bat.

Santana and Caballero jawed at each other, and the reliever had to be restrained, but little beyond that occurred before the Yankees wrapped up their win.

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