The New York Yankees lost 5-4 in extra innings to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, the ballclub’s fourth loss in a row. The Yankees had a chance to extend the game in the bottom of the 10th inning, with Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda coming to the plate with one out and the bases loaded.
Aranda put an 0-1 splitter into play toward Chisolm, and although Chisholm appeared to have the right idea in mind, tagging Yandy Díaz and forcing Aranda out at first, he wasn’t able to field the ball cleanly, allowing Chandler Simpson to score the walk-off run from third.
After the game, Chisholm told reporters in the locker room that he wasn’t aware of the rules involved surrounding the play and whether Simpson’s run would have counted or not.
“I was really going to go try to tag the runner and just throw it to first,” Chisholm said. “I don’t know what the rule is. If I went to first base first and threw it back to second, if it’s still an out. Is it still a double play? I don’t know. Does it count as not an RBI?”
New York losing its vice grip on the AL East after an impressive 7-1 start to the season is ugly enough, but a player earning $10.2 million openly admitting to not knowing the basics of the game toes the line of embarrassment.
On Sunday morning, manager Aaron Boone moved to take control of the situation, insisting that his star did actually know the rules while admitting that Chisholm has to answer “those things in a better way.”
“He’s not confused on it,” Boone said. “I think that’s kind of the default answer when he’s got (reporters) in front of him. Look, it turns out to be a tough play. Watching it back, there might have been a chance to, where if he gets it cleanly, he gets the tag off, it’s hard to know how exactly Díaz reacts in that moment (running from first to second). Once it chops like that, you know it’s going to be a tough one to turn the normal 4-6-3.”
The Yankees lost to the Rays again on Sunday, increasing the slide to five straight and putting them in a three-way tie with Tampa Bay and the Baltimore Orioles at the top of the AL East at 8-7. Boone will want to make sure Chisholm and the rest of his team are on the same page moving forward, especially when it comes to the basics, to avoid ceding any more ground.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.