Yankees 4, Tigers 3, and Jazz Chisholm had the last laugh -- and the last lollipop.
Here's the backstory if you missed Monday night: Chisholm got caught sucking on a green lollipop while playing defense at Comerica Park during a 5-3 loss. Aaron Boone addressed it the next morning on the Jomboy Media podcast -- said it "pisses me off" -- and then softened slightly at his pre-game presser: "I was annoyed by it. I addressed it. And at the end of the day, it's not that big of a deal." That was the conversation going into Tuesday's game. By the sixth inning, Chisholm had just ripped a two-run, go-ahead homer off Casey Mize and was walking back to the New York Yankees dugout to show the lollipop bucket to every camera in Comerica Park. Final: Yankees 4, Tigers 3. Three-game losing streak snapped. Detroit's four-game winning streak, finished.
Baseball is weird. This is why we watch.
The Sixth Inning
The Yankees went into the sixth down 2-1 -- José Caballero's RBI groundout in the fourth had narrowed the gap -- and Mize was doing just enough to keep them at bay. Six strikeouts on the night, reasonably sharp. But the pitch count was climbing, he'd been allowing baserunners, and the lineup was starting to get a better read on him.
Paul Goldschmidt beat out an infield single with one out, legging it down the line just ahead of the throw. (Goldschmidt is a lot of things, but a foot-speed threat isn't usually one of them -- he earned that hit.) Chisholm came up next, turned on a pitch, and drove it to right-center. Two-run blast. 3-2 Yankees. His 12th of the year.
Caballero singled to keep it rolling. Detroit pulled Mize after 5.2 innings -- Tyler Holton came in, and Austin Wells greeted him immediately with an RBI double, making it 4-2. Detroit clawed one back in the bottom half -- Matt Vierling and Dillon Dingler hit back-to-back doubles to make it 4-3 -- but that was all they'd get. The bullpen held the line.
Chisholm Was the Game
Two-for-four, two RBIs, two runs scored, and a postgame moment that's going to live on the timeline for a reason that has nothing to do with exit velocity. His 12th homer of 2026, his sixth in the last 18 games -- whatever the early-season numbers showed, Chisholm has been on a genuine tear lately.
(He came back to the dugout after the homer, found the lollipop bucket, and made absolutely sure every camera in Comerica Park knew about it. You have to respect the commitment to the bit.)
The display works as tone-deaf or as confidence, depending entirely on whether you won the game. He won the game.
Rodón Ground Through It
Carlos Rodón wasn't sharp -- 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks -- but he kept the game close enough for the offense to dig him out, which is what he needed to do.
The rough stretch was the third inning. Zach McKinstry singled. Ben Malgeri -- making his MLB debut -- singled for his first career hit right behind him. McKinstry scored on a Rodón wild pitch. Malgeri came home on Dingler's RBI single. 2-0 Tigers, and Rodón had given a lead to a team that had been rolling for four days. He was out there for 5.1 innings and three earned runs -- not dominant, but competitive enough for the lineup to do the work.
Brent Headrick (1.2 scoreless innings) and Fernando Cruz (0.2 scoreless innings) bridged cleanly to David Bednar, who got the final four outs for his 15th save. Four outs in a one-run game on the road against a team riding momentum. Bednar made it look like a Tuesday.
What Snapped
The Yankees came in having dropped three straight -- including two to this same Tigers team -- and Detroit had won four in a row and was starting to feel like a genuine AL Central story: grinding wins, veteran pitching, the middle of the order producing. One win doesn't flip that narrative entirely.
But it does stop the skid. It ends their streak. Three relievers held after Rodón came out, Bednar closed it without drama, and Chisholm hit like someone who had a point to make -- which, given the last 48 hours, he clearly did.
One down in Detroit, two to go. Wednesday looks a lot more manageable than Monday did.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
