Jazz HR’s, Grisham Slam Back Fried Gem. NY 7 Houston 1

September 3, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Jazz Chisholm Jr. solo HR in 8th is icing on top for NY.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a 2-run HR to put the Yanks ahead 2-0 in the 2nd, Trent Grisham hit ANOTHER Grand Slam in the 5th to put NY up 6-0, and Jazz bookended a solo HR in the 8th to back a gem of a start by Max Fried — 7 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball — as the Yankees beat the Astros 7-1 on a Monday night in Houston.

Best news for the Yanks — Fried was great for the 2nd straight start — the same Fried the Yanks had seen early in the season. He made a spectacular defensive play in the field as well — making a diving catch of a little popup towards 3rd then firing a strike to 1st for a double play in the 7th, with 1st and 2nd, nobody out. Fried goes to 15-5 2.98.

Jazz’s first HR electrified NY — and both his HR’s came off lefties.

“I stick to the plan, my approach is the right way — and having a good game plan is trusting my teammates on what they’ve seen before I get into the box,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr. afterwards. “I’ve been given good, good scouting reports lately. Belli and Grish has been really good on that; Rice has been really good too. But those two — they really give perfect scouting reports.”

“The first HR was ‘you get him a little up, push him up, and take your normal swing and you’ll gonna hit a HR to right field,” continued Jazz when asked by Meredith Marakovits what the advice was. “The first pitch I didn’t get him up enough and I fouled it back. I was like, ‘ok, I see what he’s talking about.’ The other one was right in the spot he was talking about, and I just swung — I didn’t think about trying to pull it, trying to go opposite field — I just swung the bat the way I know how to swing the bat and it was a HR. So the scouting reports worked.”

NY improves to 77-61, and remain 2.5 behind Toronto and tied with Boston, who both won. Houston falls to 76-63, and remain 3 ahead of Seattle in the AL West.

1. Jazz HR Puts NY Up 2-0 in 2nd

It was Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s 2-run BLAST in the top of the 2nd that energized the night for NY — scoring Trent Grisham who had walked and putting the Yanks in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 lead just like that off Houston starter Framber Valdez.

Jose Caballero, starting the game as the 3rd baseman, followed Jazz’s HR with a double, then stole 3rd base — but Valdez struck out Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt to end the inning.

2. Caballero Tossed Mid At Bat

Caballero would be thrown out of the game in his next at bat in the 4th for being disenchanted with the home plate ump — who called a strike on him on a swing where he was hit by the pitch first. Ryan McMahon took his place mid at-bat and played 3rd the rest of the game.

3. Grisham SLAM Puts NY Up 6-0 in 5th

The Yanks got to Framber Valdez again in the top of the 5th — Paul Goldschmidt working a 1-out walk, next batter Cody Bellinger singling to right, and next batter Aaron Judge singling to right (his 2nd hit of the game).

With bases loaded, Valdez struck out Giancarlo Stanton for the 2nd out.

But Trent Grisham smoked a 95-MPH sinker on a 1-0 pitch 358-feet to left center — the opposite field — for a Grand Slam! It was his 3rd (Third) Grand Slam of the season. NY 6 Houston 0.

Valdez’s line: 5 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 8 K’s, 1 walk. He loses to go 12-8 3.40.

4. Valdez Pissed at His Catcher Salazar?

After the Slam, it seemed that Framber Valdez purposely crossed up his catcher Cesar Salazar — throwing a fastball instead of a breaking ball — the replay caught by a Houston fan.

Afterwards, Salazar said he didn’t get crossed up — it was just that it was so loud with Yankee fans he pushed the wrong button on the PitchCom.

JomBoy and many others saw it differently.

By the next morning — Houston Astro’s beat reporter Michael Schwabb reported: “Sources tell me tensions rose in the Astros clubhouse last night, after the loss, when players confronted Framber Valdez for his in game actions involving César Salazar.

The argument escalated and coaches eventually stepped in to calm the situation.

While intent behind the pitch remains unclear, Valdez’s initial refusal to address Salazar frustrated many in the clubhouse.”

5. Fried Fantastic

Meanwhile Max Fried was fantastic, again. He got lots of groundouts — which especially helped him when he got into trouble in the bottom of the 3rd with a leadoff walk to centerfielder Mauricio Dubon and a hit-by-pitch to catcher Cesar Salazar.

With 1st and 2nd, nobody out in a 2-0 game, shortstop Jeremy Pena bunted to Fried — who threw the runner out at 3rd. Fried then got Carlos Correa to ground out to 1st — Goldschmidt throwing the runner out at 2nd, and then Fried got Jose Altuve to ground out to shortstop stranding the runner on 3rd.

Fried pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, and struck out 3 straight batters after allowing a leadoff single in the 5th.

Houston got their only run in the 6th. Down 6-0, a leadoff single by Carlos Correa and 1-out single by Christian Walker put runners on 1st and 3rd, and a groundout by Yandy Diaz made it 6-1.

Then came Fried’s spectacular defensive play in the 7th. With NY up 6-1, rightfielder Cam Smith walked to leadoff the inning and Mauricio Dubon reached on an infield single to 3rd. Cesar Salazar hit a little bloop between the pitcher’s mound and 3rd — Fried dove for it, caught it, and rifled to 1st to nab the runner for a double play. Fried then got a groundout to end the inning.

Fried’s line: 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 5 K’s, 3 walks.

6. Jazz HR Makes It 7-1 in 8th

And then Jazz Chisholm Jr. bookended the night with a Blast in the 8th off a Beautiful uppercut swing off lefty Steven Okert. NY 7 Houston 1.

7. Blackburn Finishes

Paul Blackburn gave the Yanks more good vibes by pitching 2 shutout innings in the 8th and 9th. Could he be another reclamation project of pitching coach Matt Blake?

Blackburn struck out the side in the 8th, and in the 9th allowed a leadoff single, but got a strikeout and double play — pitcher to 1st — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696988

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