Yankees show no mercy as Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr. key 14-4 rout of Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Before the Yankees began their highly-anticipated series against the first-place Phillies on Monday, the conversation surrounding Jazz Chisholm Jr. focused more on his glove than his bat.

With the experienced center fielder and second baseman playing third base for the first time as a pro, Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained why he feels the 26-year-old can learn the hot corner on the fly.

“Special athlete,” Boone said. “This is a guy that came up as a shortstop. So I feel like he has all the skills and ability to be able to handle it.”

Chisholm supported that theory in his second game with the Yankees, playing third without incident in a 14-4 win. He even started a double play on his first attempt at the hot corner.

However, Chisholm’s biggest impact came at the plate when he took Phillies ace Zack Wheeler deep in the second inning.

The opposite-field solo shot was Chisholm’s 14th home run of the year, but his first with the Yankees. Just as he often did with the Marlins, Chisholm finished his trot around the bases with his signature Euro step.

Chisholm wasn’t the only Yankee to go yard against Wheeler, as Aaron Judge started the scoring with his 38th homer of the season in the first inning. The league-leading shot traveled 406 feet, but the Yankees captain outdid himself later in the night.

With Phillies reliever Yunior Marte on the mound in the seventh, Judge made it 39 homers, belting a two-run moonshot 430 feet.

With 39 home runs in 108 team games, Judge is slightly behind his historic 2022 pace. That year, he hit 43 long balls over the same span before finishing with 62 homers, an American League record.

Earlier in the game, with Wheeler still pitching, Ben Rice slugged his own bases-empty blast after Chisholm. The Yankees then found other ways to inflict damage on Wheeler, as Juan Soto and Austin Wells drove in two runs apiece in the fifth. Soto did so by ripping a double, while Wells ran out the first triple of his career after taking Wheeler to the wall in right-center field.

All in all, the righty allowed seven earned runs and seven hits over five innings after entering the game with a 2.55 ERA.

Anthony Volpe added a two-run blast of his own in the eighth before Soto sent another run home with a double. Chisholm then matched Judge’s evening in the ninth while using his bat, cranking a two-run homer off position player Garrett Stubbs.

Meanwhile, Luis Gil held his own against a formidable Phillies lineup. He totaled 5 1/3 innings, five hits, three earned runs, three walks, eight strikeouts and 92 pitches while using his slider more than his fastball again.

Two of those runs came from Brandon Marsh, who clubbed a second-deck homer in the fourth before adding an RBI single in the sixth. The latter ended Gil’s night.

The righty also allowed a run in the third when a wide Kyle Schwarber slide into second led to an off-balance throw from Gleyber Torres. Torres later made his 14th error of the season, which came a day after he made headlines for not sounding to psyched about experimenting at third base.

Coincidentally, Gil’s spring training performance against the Phillies on March 11 catapulted him into the Yankees’ rotation after Gerrit Cole came down with a case of elbow inflammation. Gil struck out eight and permitted one hit over 3 2/3 scoreless innings that day.

He’s since posted a 3.20 ERA over 21 starts in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.

Because of his recent injury history and unprecedented innings count (112 2/3), there’s been a lot of talk over whether Gil will stay in the rotation all year. While things can change, Boone expressed confidence that Gil will remain a starter the rest of the way.

Boone shared that sentiment on Sunday after Gil popped into his office in Boston.

“He feels like he’s prepared and trained for the long haul of the season,” Boone said, summarizing their conversation. “So I’m excited where he’s still at physically, but always something we’re paying attention to.”

The Phillies scored another run on a wild Michael Tonkin pitch in the seventh, but the blemish hardly mattered.

After another successful night on offense, the Yankees will try to stay hot at the plate against Aaron Nola on Tuesday. Cole will start for the Yankees.

He’s looking to rebound from a poor start against another National League East team, the Mets, on July 24.