HOUSTON — Jazz Chisholm Jr. had to remove himself from the Yankees’ wacky 8-4, series-winning victory over the Astros on Thursday, as he suffered contusions to both of his knees on separate plays.

“I don’t think it’s anything major, at least that’s the sense right now,” Aaron Boone said afterward. “But we’ll see how he’s doing tomorrow.”

Chisholm said that he didn’t suffer any serious damage, and he hopes icing on the Yankees’ overnight flight home will allow him to play on Friday.

“I feel like they’re pretty good right now,” he said. “I feel like tomorrow they’re gonna feel a lot better.”

Chisholm hurt his left knee when Jose Altuve attempted to steal second in the third inning. As Altuve slid into the bag, his helmet connected with Chisholm’s knee. While Chisholm was able to apply an inning-ending tag, he hobbled off the field. He then struck out in the top of the fourth before strolling gingerly back to the dugout.

At that point, YES Network cameras filmed Chisholm saying that he had to exit the game. He was replaced by José Caballero at second base in the bottom of the fourth.

Austin Wells had his head on a swivel 🚫

Watch #YANKSonYES live on YES & The @gothamsports App: https://t.co/sWMqNZ0hci pic.twitter.com/XJw8C2H3LT

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 5, 2025

Prior to that, Chisholm bruised his right knee on a Ramón Urías grounder in the second inning. His knee hit the infield dirt hard on the play, and he took a moment to compose himself before firing to first.

“The umpire was kind of blocking my vision, so I couldn’t really see it,” Chisholm said. “So I got down to a knee, banged my knee pretty hard.”

Chisholm has been one of baseball’s best second basemen this year, hitting .242/.339/.499 with 28 home runs, 70 RBI, 26 stolen bases and a 132 wRC+. He needs just two more dingers and four more steals to join the Yankees’ two-man 30-30 club.

Chisholm already missed a month with an oblique strain this season. Shortly after that, he nursed a nagging groin injury.

While Chisholm sustained a few more aches on Thursday, the Yankees took an early lead when Ryan McMahon picked up an RBI single in the second. Yordan Alvarez tied things up with a solo homer off Carlos Rodón in the third, but the fifth saw McMahon crush his 19th home run of the season and third with the Yankees, a solo shot, before Cody Bellinger added an RBI knock that ended Cristian Javier’s night.

Former Yankee Enyel De Los Santos then entered, only to walk in a run on his second pitch clock violation of the inning.

The game took a crazy turn in the sixth when third base umpire Brian Walsh — whose strike zone was widely ridiculed by the Yankees after Wednesday’s loss — appeared to rule that McMahon did not catch a soft line drive in the air, even though the third baseman clearly did before bobbling a transfer to his throwing hand.

“I know in real time, that’s probably a lot harder for those umpires to see,” McMahon said. “I was more just pissed off at myself for not… holding on to it. I got cute. I wanted to look at second to see if we could double them off.

“I do think I caught it, though.”

A conversation between Walsh and the other umps didn’t change anything or provide McMahon with much clarity, leaving the Yankees upset with Walsh for the second straight night.

Asked what his level of exasperation was after the call, Boone asked, “What’s the scale?”

“We overcame it,” he continued.

“That was interesting,” added Rodón, who allowed two runs (one earned) over six innings. “I saw it. The ball didn’t hit the ground, and he was making an attempt to throw the ball to second. So to me, that’s a transfer.”

Brian Walsh rules that Ryan McMahon did not catch this ball and after a conversation with the other umpires the call on the field stands pic.twitter.com/kTAH9X3KZX

— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 5, 2025

Shortly thereafter, the Astros scored when Caballero made a throwing error on a potential double play ball, though Ben Rice, already charged with an error in the second inning, should have at least stopped the low throw at first.

Luke Weaver then surrendered a solo homer to pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez in the seventh. That cut the Yankees’ lead to one, but Fernando Cruz went on to escape a jam that he inherited from Weaver by striking out Altuve with two runners on.

With Altuve whiffing at Cruz’s signature splitter, the right-hander left the mound in animated fashion.

“I’m all about passion. I feel a lot for this team. I feel a lot for my boys,” said Cruz, who totaled four outs and three strikeouts. “I knew we had a really, really good chance after that of winning the game, so my emotions just exploded.”

It helped that McMahon netted his third ribbie with a single in the eighth, while Trent Grisham followed up with a three-run homer, his 30th of the season and the 100th of his career. That gave the Yankees plenty of breathing room.

The cushion came in handy in the ninth, as David Bednar, pitching for the first time since Aug. 30, worked into trouble and permitted an RBI single to Yordan Alvarez.

Prior to that, there was a lengthy delay, as Houston’s Taylor Trammell, who was in the Yankees’ organization last year, had his bat confiscated and given to a league authenticator following a double. Boone requested that the umps inspect Trammell’s lumber, as he had noticed some discoloration near the label earlier in the series and asked MLB about it prior to Thursday’s game.

“I don’t know if it was natural or if it was – I don’t know, and I don’t want to accuse Taylor,” Boone explained. “I’m not saying anything untoward or whatever. We noticed it, though, on video while we were here, and we actually mentioned it to the league and they said, ‘No, that looks like an illegal bat.’”

Per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, Trammell denied any wrongdoing, including shaving down his bat. He attributed the discoloration to his bat having a matte paint job, rather than a glossy one, and called the decision to check it “baffling.”

Nonetheless, the fiasco provided yet another umpire-involved twist in a series full of them, particularly over the final two games.

“This took some months and some years off me for sure,” Boone said, though he was certainly happy to win the series in Houston.

With their second-to-last road trip of the regular season over, the Yankees will continue a grueling stretch of games against fellow contenders at home on Friday when they welcome Toronto to the Bronx. The first-place Blue Jays hold a three-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East heading into the highly-anticipated three-game series.

“Hopefully we get a little bit of rest and get after it tomorrow night,” Boone said. “It should be a good series. Obviously, they’re a really good club. We’re excited to get after it with them.”

Originally Published: September 4, 2025 at 11:12 PM EDT