By Brendan Kuty, Jen McCaffrey and Chris Kirschner
NEW YORK — The crowd roared, and then the building shook. Austin Wells’ eighth-inning, two-out liner rattled around in the right-field corner long enough for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to chug from first base and score the go-ahead run with a headfirst slide, helping the New York Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series on Wednesday night. This time, the Yankees’ bullpen didn’t falter, like it did in Game 1. This time, the Red Sox had to twice erase Yankees’ leads. Both teams’ seasons are on the brink with the elimination Game 3 looming Thursday.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. JUST beat the tag #Postseason pic.twitter.com/YYGn1mUw8m
— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025
Don’t forget about this defensive play from Chisholm
Once again, with a right-handed reliever in the game for the Yankees — this time Fernando Cruz — Cora pinch hit Masataka Yoshida for Rob Refsnyder in the seventh inning. Yoshida lined a single to almost the same spot as he did in Game 1, which was the go-ahead two-run single Tuesday. But this time, Chisholm made a diving stop, keeping it in the infield.
That diving stop kept Nate Eaton from scoring on the play. If the ball gets past Chisholm and into the outfield grass, the Red Sox lead 4-3, and the Yankees are staring down elimination.
Amed Rosario, who was playing second base in Game 1, could not range to his right Tuesday. With Chisholm at second base Wednesday, he may have saved the Yankees’ season with that defensive play.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s diving stop ended up saving a run 👀#Postseason pic.twitter.com/2oVTlLD8kw
— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025
Rodón does just enough
Rodón kept the Yankees in the game — even if it wasn’t pretty. He gave them six innings, allowing three runs. It nearly all came apart at the end.
In the seventh, Rodón walked the leadoff man (Eaton) and hit the next batter (Jarren Duran) before Boone removed him at 91 pitches. Fernando Cruz rescued Rodón by getting out of the inning unscathed and with the score tied at 3.
But Rodón followed Max Fried’s big Game 1 performance and did just enough, striking out six, walking three and allowing four hits. His biggest blemish came in a two-run third inning when Nick Sogard’s sacrifice bunt with runners on second and first base forced Rodón to short-hop a throw to first. Two batters later, Trevor Story’s bases-loaded single scored two to tie the score at 2. Then Rodón coughed up a homer to Story to lead off the sixth that tied the game again.
Could the Yankees have asked for more? Yes. This was Rodón’s best year in pinstripes, and he was an All-Star. But he helped the Yankees get to where they needed to be.
Cora pulls Brayan Bello early, manages bullpen aggressively — but at what cost?
Just like he did on Friday when the Red Sox clinched their postseason spot, manager Alex Cora managed the bullpen aggressively.
When starter Brayan Bello lacked command through two innings, allowing a two-run homer in the first and putting two on in third, Cora lifted him with one out. Though Bello had a 2.99 ERA through his first 24 starts, he seemingly hit a wall in September with a 5.40 ERA in five starts. With a rested bullpen thanks to 7 2/3 innings in Game 1 from Garrett Crochet, Cora was able to lean heavily on his relievers.
He weaved through his bullpen starting with lefty Justin Wilson, who escaped Bello’s two-on, one-out jam, then held the Yankees down through the fourth. But New York tagged Justin Slaten for a run in the fifth when the righty issued a two-out walk and wild pitch, moving a runner into scoring position. Duran’s misplay on an Aaron Judge fly ball to left allowed the go-ahead run to score.
From there, Steven Matz and Zack Kelly kept New York off the board. With the score tied 3-3 thanks to Trevor Story’s sixth-inning homer, Garrett Whitlock entered in the seventh and allowed a one-out double before getting the next two outs. Cora had used closer Aroldis Chapman for a four-out save on Tuesday and Chapman had only pitched more than one inning one other time this season. So the manager went back to Whitlock for a second inning of work in the eighth and Whitlock nearly escaped before running out of steam.
He issued a two-out walk to Chisholm, then gave up a Wells single to right, scoring the go-ahead run as Eaton’s throw arrived a second too late at the plate.
Whitlock hadn’t given up a run since Aug. 17. After he allowed another single and a walk to load the bases, Cora turned to rookie Payton Tolle who finished off the eighth. Whitlock’s 47 pitches marked the most pitches he’d thrown all season, his first since returning from an internal brace procedure.
(Photo of Jazz Chisholm Jr: Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
