Yankees manager Aaron Boone walks back Jazz Chisholm's 'lucky' comment about Royals after Game 2

NEW YORK — Bulletin board material? New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn’t think so.

Boone said “not really” when asked if he believed third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Kansas City Royals their new rallying cry when Chisholm said he thought they “just got lucky” while beating the Yankees, 4-2, in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night.

Boone added that he disagreed with Chisholm’s assessment.

“I don’t think they got lucky,” the manager said. “I think they did a lot of really good things, and came in here and beat us last night.”

Here was the full exchange between a reporter and Chisholm:

Reporter: “How different does the series feel now after Game 2 compared to Game 1?”

Chisholm: “Still feels the same that we’re going to win it, you know. I don’t feel like anybody feels different, you know. We’re going to go out there and do our things. We still don’t feel like any team is better than us. Like you said, we had a lot of missed opportunities tonight. So, they just got lucky.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his first career postseason home run tonight. The third baseman recaps Game 2 with @M_Marakovits and the rest of the media. pic.twitter.com/fvEd8uKURo

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 8, 2024

The Yankees are 9-for-43 (.209) with runners on base so far and 3-for-19 (.158) with runners in scoring position.

Boone added that he believed Chisholm was referring to how the Yankees had hit into some “tough luck.”

“There were some hard-hit balls,” Boone said. “And so that line of questioning continued to where Jazz can be colorful sometimes and just in his head, because of the confidence he has in himself and in our group, ‘Hey, they got lucky.’

“But I don’t think that was the case. I think they played two really good games against us and earned themselves a victory (Monday) night.”

The comment came a game after Chisholm made a quip about how the Los Angeles Angels are second fiddle to the Dodgers in their market. In Game 1, left fielder Alex Verdugo had a big game, and Chisholm referenced how Verdugo has played in the past for big market teams.

“He’s played in big cities before,” Chisholm said at the time. “He played in Boston. He played in LA — and I’m not talking about the Angels.”

On Monday night, Chisholm was also asked if he felt the Yankees had missed a lot of scoring opportunities.

“We all think that way,” he said. “We know that the game is hard. This isn’t an easy game to play. For me, it’s just, we’re going to come back and fight the next day.”

Chisholm wasn’t the only player in the series engaging in some postgame back and forth. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia, who went 4 for 5 with an RBI on Monday, posted the following on X after the game.

Don’t celebrate too early💀 https://t.co/T4GyFapOFO

— Maikel Garcia (@maikeljose06) October 8, 2024

So far, neither team has gotten much out of their biggest stars. Judge, the runaway AL MVP favorite, has gone 1-for-7 with two walks and four strikeouts. Meanwhile, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has gone 0-for-10. Witt seems like a lock to finish second to Judge for MVP.

On Wednesday, the Yankees will start righty Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) vs. righty Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) in Game 3.

(Top photo of Aaron Boone: Elsa/Getty Images)