Jazz Chisholm raced from first base to score the go-ahead run as the New York Yankees beat the Boston Celtics 4-3 on Wednesday to force a decisive game three in their Major League Baseball playoff series.
The Yankees, who fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s World Series, were facing elimination after dropping game one of their American League wild card showdown to bitter rivals Boston.
But Chisholm’s dash from first, on an eighth-inning single by Austin Wells, means they will host game three at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
The second day of playoff action saw the Dodgers aiming to complete a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, while the Cleveland Guardians and San Diego Padres also staved off elimination in their best-of-three series.
The Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and the Padres downed the Chicago Cubs 3-0.
Chisholm, who was clearly irked that he didn’t get a starting nod from manager Aaron Boone on Tuesday, also came up with a run-saving catch at second base.
Ben Rice — who also watched game one from the bench — delivered a two-run home run in the first inning for the Yankees. Boston’s Trevor Story belted a two-run single and homered in the sixth inning.
But New York, who also had a run-scoring single from star slugger Aaron Judge, are still alive.
“It was a lot of fun,” Chisholm said. “It came down to the wire, last pitch, last battle — but we just kept on fighting and we prevailed.”
In Cleveland, the Guardians put up five runs in the eighth inning against the Tigers. Brayan Rocchio ignited Cleveland’s surge with a 379-foot go-ahead home run to right field off rookie pitcher Troy Melton.
Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann followed with back-to-back doubles, and with two outs in the eighth catcher Bo Naylor belted a three-run homer.
The Tigers were left to regret missed chances. They stranded 15 runners on base and were just one for 15 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
In Chicago, Manny Machado’s monster two-run homer off Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga in the fifth was the big difference-maker for the Padres in the win that leveled their National League series.
Padres starter Dylan Cease pitched three-plus shut-out innings and reliever Mason Miller dazzled again.
Miller struck out five of six batters he faced — including retiring Carson Kelly with a 104.5 mph fastball.