WASHINGTON — Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the New York Yankees over the Washington Nationals 5-3 on Friday night.
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The Yankees and Nationals rank 1-2 in the major leagues in home runs, and all but one run in this game came via the long ball. Ben Rice hit his 29th of the season for the Yankees, and Jasson Domínguez and Austin Wells also went deep for New York.
Keibert Ruiz and James Wood homered on consecutive pitches in the seventh to give Washington a 3-2 lead, but in the ninth, the Nationals brought in left-hander Matt Krook — who had allowed 22 earned runs in 12 2/3 big league innings dating to 2023. Krook (0-1) yielded a one-out single by Domínguez, and Chisholm followed with his 13th homer.
Wells added a solo shot off Justin Lawrence to make it 5-3.
David Bednar (3-3) won in relief, working the final two innings. The Yankees remained four games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.
Rice homered in the first off Carson Palmquist, but the New York designated hitter fouled a pitch off his right leg in the fifth and was shaken up. He was able to stay in the game.
By that time, Domínguez had given the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a homer off Zack Littell (8-6) in the fourth.
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The game was delayed two hours at the start, and a wet field might have prevented Washington from tying it in the sixth. New York starter Ryan Weathers allowed a one-out double to CJ Abrams. Then Jacob Young followed with a single. Abrams looked likely to score, but he slipped rounding third and had to stay there.
Fernando Cruz then replaced Weathers and struck out the next two hitters to strand both runners.
New York’s Paul Goldschmidt singled in the first to snap an 0-for-34 drought, and he also reached on an infield hit in the sixth.
Amed Rosario of the Yankees struck out in all three of his plate appearances and made two errors at third base before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.
Cam Schlittler (9-5) was scheduled to start for New York on Saturday against Miles Mikolas (3-7) of the Nationals.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
