Jazz Chisholm Jr. blasts dramatic ninth-inning homer to lift Yankees past Nationals for another win

WASHINGTON — Break up the Yankees.

Two outs away from taking another step back following Thursday’s eruption against the Rays, Jazz Chisholm Jr. saved the day to secure the Yankees back-to-back wins for the first time in over two weeks.

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Trailing by a run and facing one-time Yankee lefty Matt Krook with one out in the ninth inning, Chisholm clobbered a two-run shot into the second deck to lift the Yankees to a dramatic 5-3 win over the Nationals on Friday night at Nationals Park.

After Chisholm’s blast, Austin Wells crushed his second home run in as many days (after going 23 straight games without one), providing some breathing room for David Bednar in his second inning of work to finish off the game.

“When we all come together, the energy’s outstanding and we’re electric together,” Chisholm said.

The consecutive wins are the Yankees’ first since June 23-24, going 2-11 in between, as they try to finally string some momentum together to fully snap out of their recent skid.

“We’re starting to get that spark,” said Ryan Weathers, who gave up just one run across 5 ¹/₃ strong innings. “Jazz had a big swing there in the ninth, that was huge for us. … I think the progression of the pitching and hitting, you see the [at-bats] are really good right now, I feel like the pitching’s doing a really good job right now, and just want to keep stacking good days on good days.”

After first pitch was delayed two hours by storms in the area, the Yankees (52-42) got solo home runs from Ben Rice and Jasson Domínguez to take a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning before Tim Hill gave up back-to-back home runs to Keibert Ruiz and James Wood, putting the Nationals (48-47) ahead 3-2.

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But after wasting chances to add on throughout the game, the Yankees finally cashed in during the ninth inning against Krook.

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With one out, Domínguez got things started with a single from the right side. Chisholm came up next, got a sweeper over the heart of the plate and did not miss, drilling a moonshot that he admired for the 4-3 lead.

Playing without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for the foreseeable future, the Yankees could desperately use Chisholm getting hot after an inconsistent first half, with his big swing Friday night a reminder of his high-end talent.

“I feel like he got off to a tough start in April, since then has been fine,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But Jazz shouldn’t be fine. He’s better than that. So hopefully he’s setting himself up for a really good second half. Because when he gets going, he’s one of those guys that changes a game in a lot of ways and even can carry teams in certain stretches. Good to see a big swing in a big spot.”

Similar to their third inning Thursday against the Rays, which keyed a 12-run outburst at Tropicana Field, the Yankees then strung together quality at-bats against righty Justin Lawrence, including Wells going deep for the second straight game, even though they eventually left the bases loaded.

But it is going to take that kind of full-team effort to pick themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves over the past few weeks, which is one of the points that Chisholm made when he spoke up in Thursday’s pregame hitters meeting.

At a time when everyone was slumping together and trying to break the team out of it individually, Chisholm encouraged his teammates to “be more together” on and off the field.

“I feel like we’re losing ourselves and we’re splitting further and further apart,” Chisholm said. “I feel like when we’re together, we’re unstoppable. Every time we go on a crazy run, it’s because we’re always together and having fun together as a team. I feel like that’s a big part of going on the baseball field and knowing your teammates and having your teammates’ back and trusting your teammates.”

“Felt like we just have to tighten up and be for each other instead of being for ourselves. I’m the biggest advocate of loving my own stats, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t mind rolling over to second base to move the runner over from second with no outs.”

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