BOSTON — There were the three victories. There were the three losses for the Red Sox. There was pitching excellence. There were timely hits.
During a sweep at Fenway Park that included virtually only positives for the Yankees, among the club’s most encouraging developments was a possible breakthrough from Jazz Chisholm Jr.
The talented second baseman went his first 21 games without a multihit game. Against the Red Sox, he went 2-for-3 in multihit games.
Chisholm did not launch a home run in his first 23 games, but in the series finale, he wrapped a shot around the Pesky Pole, allowing him to exhale.
In three games, he spiked his OPS from .498 to .556. And in the final game, he felt as if he found what had been troubling him by backing away from the plate and assuming a more closed-off stance.
“I feel like I’ve been opening a little bit, and I feel like that helped me close up a little bit and just backing off [the plate],” Chisholm said after the stance tweak immediately paid off in the 4-2 victory Thursday.
A day prior, Chisholm felt his more open stance and crowding the plate was leading him to flare balls to left rather than drive them.
After the adjustments, the lefty swinger pulled an inside fastball from lefty Payton Tolle and snuck it around the right field pole in the fifth inning.
In the seventh, he singled hard to center against lefty Danny Coulombe. In the eighth, he grounded into a 103.8 mph force-out against lefty Tyler Samaniego.
“Probably his best group of at-bats, especially off some tough lefty matchups there,” manager Aaron Boone said of Chisholm, who went 2-for-4 with a strikeout and two runs scored. “So good to see that.”
Asked if the lack of home runs was on his mind, Chisholm smiled and said, “I wouldn’t say home runs was on my mind — it would be hits.” But he was not overly concerned because it is still only April.
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Nonetheless, Chisholm is hitting .188, and his one home run in 24 games does not put him on pace for the 50 he has said he wants to hit by the end of the season. During a walk year, he and the Yankees would have preferred a better start.
But Chisholm’s April last season was his worst month of what became an All-Star season. Perhaps he takes time to get going. Perhaps he needed a couple tweaks to get going.
“I tend to have a couple problems early in the season,” Chisholm said. “But at the end of the day, it feels good to finally get one [homer] in there.”
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