Belli & Jazz Bomb Late to Put Yanks Back in 1st. NY 6 Boston 1

June 8, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Cody Bellinger hits solo HR to put Yanks up 2-1 in bottom of 8th.

Cody Bellinger broke a 1-1 tie with a solo HR in the bottom of the 8th, Trent Grisham singled in a run 2 batter later, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. capped the rally off with a 3-run bomb to give the Yankees a 6-1 win over the Red Sox on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the Bronx — putting the Yanks back in 1st in a virtual tie with Tampa.

More good news: Cam Schlittler was back on his train after a couple of so-so starts — this time pitching 5.2 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball, striking out 6 with 1 walk. He was pitching a shutout until Willson Contreras hit a 2-out RBI double to tie the score 1-1 in the 6th. The Yankee bullpen of Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, Tim Hill, and David Bednar combined for 3.1 innings of shutout ball.

Cam dueled Bosox Ace Ranger Suarez, who kept the Yanks in check with 6.1 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball. Paul Goldschmidt had put the Yanks up 1-0 in the 5th with a clutch, 2-out RBI single off Suarez.

Chisholm hit the 3-run HR with one of Aaron Judge‘s bats, and wearing Giancarlo Stanton‘s pants.

“I was swinging and missing when I thought I was hitting the ball, so I just seized a bat for a change,” said Jazz afterwards. “Sometimes you need a little more weight and a little less in your swing. Definitely didn’t ask him. Like a big brother-little brother thing. Just went and picked it out of his bag.”

“I thought it looked a tick better,” said manager Aaron Boone about Schlittler’s outing. “A little crisper, and overall I think he threw the ball well and gave us a real chance to win. I know he’s a little frustrated he couldn’t finish off that 6th inning; Contreras throws a really good at bat on him and chases him.”

NY improves to 38-26, in a virtual tie for 1st with Tampa, which is percentage pts ahead at 37-25 (.597 to .594). Boston falls to 27-36, in last in the East, 10.5 games back.

1. Schlittler Great

The game started with a thunderstorm that delayed things for 30 minutes.

Cam Schlittler threw 11 pitches, then had to walk off the mound and come back on — and was much better than he was his last 2 starts — which were good but not great.

Cam was throwing 99-100 MPH Heat with his 3 fastballs — the four-seam, the sinker, and the cutter.

Schlittler scattered a 1-out single in the 1st, a leadoff walk in the 3rd, and a 2-out double in the 5th — pitching 1-2-3 innings in the 2nd and 4th.

Cam went to some 3-2 counts — but only walked the one guy — and was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Suarez — the score 0-0 heading into the bottom of the 5th.

Staked to a 1-0 lead with a Yankee run in the bottom of the 5th — Schlittler yielded a 1-out single to Ceddanne Rafaela in to the top of the 6th, then a 2-out, RBI double by Willie Contreras that tied the score 1-1.

Schlittler was lifted at 92 pitches for Fernando Cruz, who came in and got a fly out to end the 6th.

2. Suarez Tough

Ranger Suarez is a 30-year-old, 6’1 lefty who the Red Sox signed as a free agent this winter to a 5-year contract that pays him $26M a year. He went 12-8 3.46 and 12.8 3.20 the last 2 years with Philly, and is 2-3 3.18 this year so far.

Suarez uses lots of off-speed changeups and curves that make a 91-MPH fastball look faster.

Suarez was tough — retiring the first 9 Yankees before Paul Goldschmidt led off the 4th with a single. Cody Bellinger followed with a 1-oout single, and Trent Grisham ripped a 2-out single to center that was hit too hard for Goldschmidt to score from 2nd. With bases loaded and 2 outs, Anthony Volpe worked the count 3-0, took a strike, then hit a fly to center for the 3rd out.

3. Goldy Clutch Single Puts NY Up 1-0 in 5th

NY finally got to Suarez in the bottom of the 5th — a 1-out double by Jose Caballero (playing right field while Volpe played shortstop), and clutch, 2-out RBI single by Goldschmidt. NY 1 Boston 0.

4. Yank Pen Shuts the Door

The Yankee pen came in and shut the door — Cruz getting the final out of the 6th, then allowing a leadoff single but getting an out in the 7th. Brent Headrick came in and allowed a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

But Headrick got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Tim Hill pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th — fly out, line out, groundout.

5. Belli & Chisholm Bombs Highlight 5-Run 8th

And so it was to the bottom of the 8th with 6’4 righty Justin Slaten on the mound for Boston.

Slaten struck out the 1st two batters — Goldschmidt and Ben Rice — but Cody Bellinger hit a CLUTCH, 2-out, solo HR to right for a 2-1 Yankee lead.

Next batter Amed Rosario singled to right, stole 2nd, and was plated by a Clutch, 2-out single by Trent Grisham for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

And then next batter Jazz Chisholm Jr. parked a first-pitch, 92-MPH sinker 411 feet to right for a 6-1 game.

6. Bednar Closes

David Bednar came in to get some work in the 9th — pitching a 1-2-3 inning for the old ballgame.

Etcetera — Sanchez New Righty Catcher; Wells to the 10-Day IL

Prior to the game, the Yankees brought up Ali Sanchez from AAA to be the right-handed hitting part of the catching platoon, sending J.C. Escarra down. Escarra is slashing only 0-7-.177 (.235 OBP) in 68 plate appearances. Sanchez is slashing 6-11-.227 (.327 OBP) in AAA. Sanchez is a former Met who has now played on 6 teams.

Sanchez was going to be platooning with lefty-batting Austin Wells — but several hours after the announcement, Wells was placed on the 10-day IL with cervical headaches. J.C. Escarra was sent back up to be the lefty-hitting catcher.

“There’s not a certain time when it started,” said Austin Wells after the game. “Lot of pressure in the top of my head; some headaches. Been feeling it for a bit but it got to the point where I felt I should say something. I feel better already today. I think it just needs a couple of days, let the brain catch up a little bit. We’re doing some scans tomorrow to rule out anything serious. In my mind it’s just a cumulative build up over the last couple of weeks.”

“It’s part of the position honestly,” added Wells. “Flat out tried a new mask — went with the hockey mask. Will stick with that when I come back; hopefully that helps as well.”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401815659

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*