CINCINNATI — Two days ago, he was Shoeless Jazz.
Tuesday night, according to the Yankees third baseman, he was Wordless Jazz, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. got ejected in the middle of the ninth inning of what became a 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Reds at Great American Ballpark.
Chisholm, who was upset with a 2-0 pitch that was called a strike despite appearing to come in below the zone, said he told home plate umpire Mark Wegner at the time, “That was not a strike,” before the at-bat continued and ended in a strikeout.
Then, after taking his spot at third base for the bottom of the ninth, Chisholm said he was looking down and still talking to himself, trying to cool himself down, when he looked up and saw Wegner staring at him.
“Why are you looking at me?” Chisholm said he asked Wegner.
That is when he got tossed for the second time this season.
Once he got the hook, an incredulous Chisholm then went to get his money’s worth, with manager Aaron Boone having to hold him back from Wegner to eventually get him off the field.
“Everybody knows how I am: If I’m going to go at an umpire, I’m going to go at an umpire,” Chisholm said. “I’m not going to hide it, none of that. If I wanted to say something to him, I would have said it. Nobody’s going to stop me from saying something to an umpire if I want to. I’m a grown man. So for me not even to say nothing to you, and me to ask you why you’re looking at me and you toss me, I feel like there’s a problem.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was ejected from Tuesday night’s game against the Reds.Talkin Yanks/X
“I feel like it’s getting ridiculous now.”
Boone said he would continue to look into the situation with Chisholm, who was replaced by DJ LeMahieu, who popped out to end the 11th inning.
“I don’t want him getting tossed there,” Boone said. “I want me to get tossed there in those situations.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was ejected from Tuesday night’s game against the Reds.Talkin Yanks/X
Marcus Stroman made his third, and possibly last, rehab start Tuesday night at Double-A Somerset, getting hit around while building his pitch count up to 65.
Results don’t often mean much on a rehab assignment, especially for a veteran pitcher, but they were not particularly pretty. Stroman lasted 3 ²/₃ innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out one.
Assuming Stroman’s knee recovers well in the coming days, the Yankees will have to decide whether to activate him off the injured list for his next start or have him throw another rehab outing to further build his pitch count.
A spot opened up in the rotation over the weekend when Ryan Yarbrough was placed on the injured list with a low-grade oblique strain, which the club hopes does not sideline him long.
The Yankees called up Allan Winans on Monday to make a spot start, and the right-hander got beat up his second time through the Reds lineup, allowing four runs across 4 ¹/₃ innings.
The Yankees did not immediately send Winans back to Triple-A on Tuesday for a fresh reliever, keeping in play that he could make another start over the weekend against the Athletics.
But they also could have been waiting to make sure Stroman got through Tuesday’s start without any physical issues, because Winans would not have been able to come back up this weekend if he were optioned on Tuesday unless he were replacing a newly injured player.
Allan Winans throws a pitch during the Yankees’ loss to the Reds on Monday night.Getty Images
Manager Aaron Boone had left the door open for Tuesday to be Stroman’s last rehab start in the wake of Yarbrough’s injury, but declined to commit to anything before the game.
“Just want to get through tonight and see where we’re at,” Boone said.
Boone, who was drafted by the Reds in 1994 and played the first 6 ¹/₂ seasons of his big league career in Cincinnati, was relishing the opportunity to be back here this week.
“This is an important place to me in my life,” he said. “Got drafted by this organization, came up and had my best years here. Owned my first home here. Just a lot of people that I became very close with and some of those people that I’ll even bump into while I’m back here. Love the city. It’s always very nostalgic and even probably a little bit emotional coming back because I don’t get back here that much. But I love it.”
Anthony Volpe lost his bat twice Monday while swinging through pitches — one flying into the netting over the Yankees dugout and another flying past the dugout down the line.
“It’s just one of those things that some guys are more accustomed to do that,” Boone said. “I think it’s the way some guys grip it and hold it, how they release, they’re more inclined to do that.”
