Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s helmet flung off of his head as he hurtled toward home plate.
Austin Wells had just lined a two-out single against Boston Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock inside the first-base line, and Chisholm wasn’t going to be denied.
Chisholm scored all the way from first base, barely sliding in safely beneath catcher Carlos Narvaez’s tag.
That proved to be the winning run in the Yankees’ 4-3 victory in Game 2 of the Wild Card series as they staved off elimination and forced a do-or-die Game 3 on Thursday night in the Bronx.
The game was tied, 3-3, in the eighth when Chisholm drew a two-out walk against Whitlock.
Wells then won a seven-pitch battle, sending a 3-2 changeup down the line. Right fielder Nate Eaton came up throwing, but his one-hopper was not fast enough to nail the speedy Chisholm.
The winning run capped a whirlwind 24 hours for the lefty-swinging Chisholm, who didn’t start in the Yankees’ 3-1 loss in Game 1 as manager Aaron Boone opted to go with a righty-heavy lineup against left-handed Boston ace Garrett Crochet.
Chisholm acknowledged he was surprised by that decision and conducted the bulk of Tuesday night’s postgame scrum facing his locker, with his back turned to the media.
But Chisholm was front and center Wednesday in the Yankees’ season-saving win.
His and Wells’ heroics were made possible because the Yankees escaped a high-pressure jam in the top of the seventh.
With the score tied 3-3, Yankees starter Carlos Rodón began that inning by issuing a four-pitch walk to Eaton, then threw a wild pitch before plunking Jarren Duran. Rodón exited with runners on first and second and nobody out, having thrown eight consecutive balls.
Fernando Cruz replaced him and got two quick outs before pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida — who delivered the game-winning hit in the seventh inning of Game 1 — sent a line drive back up the middle.
Chisholm made a diving stop at second base to prevent the ball from going into center field, thus saving a run, but Yoshida reached safely at first, loading the bases.
Boone opted to stick with Cruz while Devin Williams warmed up in the bullpen.
Cruz rewarded his manager’s faith by getting Trevor Story to line out to the center-field warning track, extinguishing the jam.
An ecstatic Cruz slapped his chest and unleashed a guttural scream on his way back to the Yankees’ dugout.
Rodón was charged with three runs over 6+ innings, and he struck out six.
Two of the runs scored on a two-run single by Story in the third inning, which was set up in part by a Rodón throwing error on a Nick Sogard bunt that loaded the bases with nobody out.
The Yankees took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Aaron Judge lifted a slow line drive to left field with a runner on second and two outs. Left fielder Duran made a diving attempt for the fast-falling hit, but the ball glanced off of his glove and landed in the grass. Judge was credited with an RBI single.
Story responded with a solo home run against Rodón to lead off the sixth, tying the score, 3-3.
All of that followed a start by Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello that lasted only 2.1 innings.
Bello surrendered a two-run home run to Ben Rice — who also didn’t start in Game 1 — in the first inning, then put two runners on base in the bottom of the third. Manager Alex Cora then removed Bello.
The aggressive move paid off in the immediacy, as left-handed reliever Justin Wilson retired the lefty-swinging Cody Bellinger and Rice to escape the jam. But it left the Red Sox’s bullpen in need of 18 more outs.
Bello entered Wednesday with a 2.35 ERA in 11 career starts against the Yankees. He was 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts against them this year, including hurling seven scoreless innings in the Bronx on Aug. 22.
But Bello pitched to a 5.40 ERA over his final five starts, including a five-inning, four run outing against the Yankees in Boston less than three weeks ago.
Bello was charged with two runs, four hits and a walk on Wednesday.
“The cool thing about the playoffs,” Cora said before the game, “is you don’t have to worry about the next series, the workloads, the back-to-backs, ‘I have to play this guy because he hasn’t played in a while.’ It is just what happens in that day, that night.”
The Wild Card series will now come down to Game 3. The Yankees will turn to rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler, who made his MLB debut in July and finished 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts.
“It is important,” said Schlittler, a native of Walpole, Mass., who grew up a Red Sox fan. “For [Boone] to put faith in me and we get to Game 3, that means a lot. So just making sure I am taking it as another game and going to do my job.”
The Red Sox are expected to roll with a rookie of their own, with 23-year-old left-hander Connelly Early to start because Lucas Giolito is off the roster with an elbow injury.
Early made his MLB debut less than a month ago but has flashed at the big-league level, pitching to a 2.33 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 19.1 innings over four starts.
To advance to the ALDS, the Yankees will have to make history. Since MLB introduced the best-of-three format for the Wild Card round in 2022, no team has lost Game 1 and gone on to win the series.
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