The New York Yankees were staring straight at elimination on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, but instead of folding, they punched back. With their season hanging in the balance, New York edged the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in a tense thriller that evened the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series at one game apiece.
In a game that demanded resilience from every player in pinstripes, the Yankees finally got the performance they needed from their bullpen—the very same group that imploded just 24 hours earlier. Add in timely offense and a daring dash from Jazz Chisholm, and the Yankees live to fight another day.
Chisholm’s fearless sprint changes everything
Sometimes October baseball comes down to one moment of daring, and Jazz Chisholm provided it in the eighth inning. With the score tied 3-3, Chisholm turned a routine single into chaos for the Red Sox, taking an extra base and forcing pressure until the dam broke. His speed and instincts manufactured the go-ahead run, the kind of play that shifts momentum and ignites a ballpark.
It wasn’t the loudest hit of the night—Ben Rice claimed that honor with a clutch home run in the first inning—but Chisholm’s boldness was the difference. For a Yankees team that has too often lacked energy in high-pressure games, it was exactly the spark they needed.
Rodón keeps them in it
Carlos Rodón didn’t have a flawless outing, but he did his job: he gave the Yankees a chance. The left-hander battled through six-plus innings, stranding traffic and holding the Red Sox to three runs. He wasn’t dominant, but in an elimination game, sometimes “good enough” is heroic.
Rodón handed the baton to the bullpen in the seventh with runners aboard, and that’s where the game’s tension spiked.
Cruz steps into the fire
Fernando Cruz has the look of a pitcher born for Yankee Stadium in October. Called upon with two men on and nobody out, he extinguished what could have been the Red Sox’s knockout punch.
Cruz snagged a popped-up bunt attempt from Ceddanne Rafaela, retired Nick Sogard on a fly ball, and then, after a Yoshida infield single loaded the bases, got Trevor Story to fly out to center fielder Trent Grisham. It wasn’t clean, but it was gutsy. The kind of escape act that can turn an entire postseason.
A bullpen reborn
After Tuesday’s collapse, few expected the Yankees’ relievers to be the heroes. But that’s exactly what happened. Devin Williams, who endured criticism all year with a 4.79 ERA, silenced doubts with a clean eighth after surrendering a leadoff single. And David Bednar looked every bit the closer New York envisioned when they acquired him, mowing through the ninth with two strikeouts and unshakable confidence.
From disaster to redemption in just 24 hours—the bullpen’s turnaround mirrored the Yankees’ season-long pattern of stumbling only to find a way back. It was as if Tuesday’s meltdown never happened.
Boston burns through its arms
While the Yankees thrived with their relief corps, Boston went the opposite direction. The Red Sox used six relievers and failed to hold the line, leaving themselves vulnerable heading into Thursday’s winner-take-all.
The contrast couldn’t have been clearer: New York’s bullpen was rested, composed, and effective, while Boston’s was stretched thin.
The Yankees have clawed their way back to even, but the job isn’t done. Thursday night will be the ultimate test: all hands on deck, every mistake magnified, every pitch carrying the weight of a season.
For one night, though, the Yankees found a way. Jazz Chisholm ran like his life depended on it, Fernando Cruz slammed the door in Boston’s face, and the rest of the bullpen—maligned and doubted—redeemed itself on the biggest stage.
The question now: can they summon that same fight when everything is truly on the line?