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Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. uses José Caballero’s bat in slump-busting night: ‘I love that bat’

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NEW YORK — Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been desperate to break the terrible slump he’s been in to start the season. To change his luck, he first tried wearing Trent Grisham’s pants; then, he moved to Giancarlo Stanton’s.

But Chisholm believes he has found a new talisman — at least for now: shortstop José Caballero’s bat, which he swung to three hits, a walk and two RBIs in a 5-2 win over the New York Mets in the Subway Series opener at Citi Field on Friday night.

“It feels great,” Chisholm told The Athletic. “Every time I swing it, it’s like I hit the ball. I don’t think I have too many swings and misses with it.”

Caballero, who went on the injured list Tuesday with a fractured right middle finger, flashed a knowing grin while talking about the gift. Chisholm started using Caballero’s bat Wednesday in Baltimore. He went 1-for-3 with a double.

“I told him to keep my bats hot,” Caballero said, “and he started using them.”

Chisholm and Caballero swing the same size bat: 34 inches, 31 ounces. There are major differences, though.

Victus makes Caballero’s. Chisholm has been using bats made by Chandler. Also, Chisholm described Caballero’s bat as having a barrel that feels long.

“It’s like a softball model,” he said. “Long barrel, but there’s something about the bat that makes it so that you kind of have to stay back because you’ve got to hit it closer to you. It just feels good. It works with my swing, I can tell you that.”

The two have grown close as a regular double-play duo, constantly joking and laughing together in the clubhouse and on the field. They have known each other a long time, though. They played together in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ system in 2017 and 2018.

Chisholm had been having a nightmare start to the season at the plate. Going into Friday, his 73 wRC+ was the worst among the Yankees’ qualified hitters. The stumble comes after a big 2025 in which he hit 31 home runs, stole 31 bases and drove in 80 RBIs. He also hit .242 with a 126 wRC+. It also comes after he made headlines in spring training for saying he believes he could have a “50-50” season — that is, 50 home runs and 50 steals.

But Friday, things were different. In the second inning, he led off with a groundball single up the middle, beating the throw from shortstop Bo Bichette with a dangerous headfirst slide. In the third frame, he laced a low liner through the right side with runners on second and third and hustled his way into a double, scoring Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. Then he stole third base.

He walked in the fifth, scoring on Spencer Jones’ single, then popped out in the seventh and singled again in the ninth before getting picked off first base.

It was Chisholm’s first multi-hit game since April 26 — a span of 19 days.

“When he’s going,” manager Aaron Boone said, “he’s so important to our offense. He’s a guy that changes the game when he’s an impact guy. I’ve always felt like it’s a matter of time with him, and hopefully these last couple of days are starting to move that way.”

“He looked great,” said starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, who continued his dominant season, allowing one run over 6 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts. “Jazz is the guy. Regardless of the start of the season, he’s a great player. It’s good to see him go out there and get a few knocks.”

Will Chisholm use Caballero’s bat Saturday? Did Pedro Cerrano use Jobu in the movie “Major League” until he had gotten all the good luck out of it?

“I love that bat,” Chisholm said. “I’m definitely going to keep using it.”

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How to watch Royals vs. Cardinals: TV channel and streaming options for May 16

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The Kansas City Royals bring a five-game losing run into a road contest versus the St. Louis Cardinals, at 2:15 p.m. ET on Saturday. Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.55 ERA) gets the start for the Royals, who are 19-26 this season and fifth in the AL Central. Kyle Leahy (4-3, 4.31 ERA) is expected to start for the Cardinals, who are 26-18 and third in the NL Central.

How to watch Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Royals vs. Cardinals odds

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Injury reports

Royals

Jonathan India: 10 Day IL (Shoulder), Cole Ragans: 15 Day IL (Elbow), Bailey Falter: 15 Day IL (Elbow), Carlos Estévez: 15 Day IL (Foot), Alec Marsh: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), James McArthur: 60 Day IL (Elbow)

Cardinals

Ramón Urías: 10 Day IL (Elbow), Matt Pushard: 15 Day IL (Knee), Lars Nootbaar: 60 Day IL (Heels)

Stats to know

  • Bobby Witt Jr. is hitting for a .309 BA, .381 OBP and .506 SLG with a 17.3% strikeout rate and a 10.9% walk rate. His OPS is .887 and he has scored 22 runs. In 202 plate appearances, he has hit seven home runs and driven in 23 runs. Witt has been crafty on the base paths, recording 13 steals on 15 attempts.
  • In 191 plate appearances, Maikel Garcia has hit three long balls, tallied 18 RBIs and scored 24 runs. He is batting .265/.335/.400 and has posted a 14.7% strikeout rate and a 9.9% walk rate. Garcia has recorded four steals on seven attempts.
  • St. Louis’ Jordan Walker is slashing .303/.376/.594 this season with 13 home runs (8th in MLB), 34 RBIs (6th in MLB) and an OPS of .970 (8th in MLB). He has a 27.4% strikeout rate and a 10.2% walk rate in 186 plate appearances, and he has scored 34 total runs. Walker has recorded seven steals on 10 attempts.
  • In 189 plate appearances, Alec Burleson has slashed .276/.344/.447 this season. He has hit six long balls and driven in 31 runs (10th in MLB) with a strikeout rate of 16.4% and a walk rate of 9.5%. and has scored 21 runs.

This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.

Betting/odds, ticketing and streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

Photo: Jamie Squire, Ishika Samant, Scott Taetsch, Alika Jenner / Getty Images

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How to watch Diamondbacks vs. Rockies: TV channel and streaming options for May 16

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A pair of the league’s top hitters face off when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies meet at 3:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, at Coors Field. Ildemaro Vargas has a .347 batting average (first in league) for the Diamondbacks, while Troy Johnston ranks seventh at .318. Eduardo Rodriguez (4-0, 2.25 ERA) gets the start for the Diamondbacks, who are 21-22 this season and third in the NL West. Tomoyuki Sugano (3-3, 4.07 ERA) is starting for the Rockies, who are 17-28 and fifth in the NL West.

How to watch Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Colorado Rockies

Diamondbacks vs. Rockies odds

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Injury reports

Diamondbacks

Carlos Santana: 10 Day IL (Groin), A.J. Puk: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Cristian Mena: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Jordan Lawlar: 60 Day IL (Wrist), Blake Walston: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Corbin Burnes: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Andrew Saalfrank: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Justin Martinez: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Pavin Smith: 60 Day IL (Elbow)

Rockies

Chase Dollander: 15 Day IL (Elbow), Ryan Feltner: 15 Day IL (Tricep), Jimmy Herget: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Kris Bryant: 60 Day IL (Back), Jeff Criswell: 60 Day IL (Elbow), McCade Brown: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), RJ Petit: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Pierson Ohl: 60 Day IL (Elbow)

Stats to know

  • Arizona’s Vargas has hit seven home runs this season. He has also tallied 30 RBIs (12th in MLB) and has scored 24 runs. In 151 plate appearances, he has recorded a .347 BA, .369 OBP and .576 SLG with a 3.3% walk rate and a 10.6% strikeout rate.
  • In 172 plate appearances, Corbin Carroll is hitting .271/.378/.500 with a .878 OPS and six steals on six attempts. He has hit five long balls, driven in 20 runs and scored 28 times.
  • Mickey Moniak is hitting for a .306 BA, .352 OBP and .672 SLG with a 25.5% strikeout rate and a 6.2% walk rate. His OPS is 1.023, which ranks 3rd in MLB, and he has scored 21 runs. In 145 plate appearances, he has hit 12 home runs (9th in MLB) and driven in 26 runs.
  • In 179 plate appearances, T.J. Rumfield has hit six long balls, tallied 22 RBIs and scored 18 runs. He is batting .273/.341/.441 and has posted a 16.8% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate.

This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.

Betting/odds, ticketing and streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

Photo: Jamie Squire, Ishika Samant, Scott Taetsch, Alika Jenner / Getty Images

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Martin Paterson: Why Notts County boss will be chopping trees ahead of play-off final

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As for the music, he would only offer one artist up as essential listening.

“George Strait. The only one. He’s a legend,” he said.

While veteran US musician Strait will be the soundtrack to the rest of Paterson’s weekend, the Notts head coach will have a number of former managers with promotion-winning pedigree – including former Burnley bosses Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe, who is now Newcastle United manager – to use as sounding boards in the coming week.

And former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis, the manager that Paterson began his playing career under, got in touch before Friday’s semi-final second leg to put across a no-nonsense point.

“The gaffer texted me about clean sheets,” Paterson said of his exchange with Pulis.

“And I’ve got lots of mentors that I speak to because I don’t know everything and I’m not always going to be right.

“So I use a lot of mentors to try and get better and improve and that should be reflected with my team as well. we’re always trying to get better.”

What he is trying to achieve at Notts this season is to return the world’s oldest professional football club to League One after an 11-year absence.

Since the Magpies dropped out of the third tier in 2015 they have gone through ownership changes, financial troubles and endured four seasons of exile in the National League after being relegated from League Two in 2019.

“We know this [the semi-final win] was just a step on the way and we’ve got another big game coming up,” Paterson said”

“We will need to improve on certain aspects, which is great – that’s coaching and that’s being a football team that wants to improve. But I have to say I’m very proud of the team.”

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