Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Cleveland crowd exactly what they were asking for on Tuesday night, and then made sure they remembered it.
Before his go-ahead home run in the 8th inning with Aaron Judge's bat, Guardians fans had been showering the Yankees infielder with "overrated" chants throughout the game. Chisholm clearly heard every word. In the biggest moment of the night, he answered in the best way possible, launching a go-ahead homer and then taking his time getting out of the batter's box to admire it.
After the game, Chisholm admitted the chants actually fueled him. "I love it, kind of. I feel like those were the loudest chants we heard all day. It was great," he said. When asked if his extended home run trot was directed at the fans, Chisholm didn't hide from it. "Yeah, it was really for the fans."
The moment was made even more interesting given some recent comments from Guardians broadcaster Tom Hamilton that gained traction on social media. Earlier this month, Hamilton took a jab at Chisholm. "Pretty amazing he got on the Jimmy Fallon show batting .239," Hamilton said this when Cleveland was visiting New York on June 2. While the comment generated plenty of discussion online, Chisholm has now hit two home runs against the Guardians since that moment
Love him or hate him, Chisholm has never lacked confidence. That's part of what makes him one of baseball's most polarizing players. When he's struggling, the critics are loud. When he's producing, he isn't afraid to let everyone know about it. On Tuesday night, the Guardians fans gave him a stage, and Jazz turned it into one of his signature moments.
