Yankees beat Nationals on homers by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells in ninth

WASHINGTON — Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning and Austin Wells added a solo shot to give the Yankees a 5-3 victory over the Nationals on Friday night.

The Yankees and Nationals rank 1-2 in the major leagues in home runs, and all but one run in this game came via the long ball.

Ben Rice hit his 29th homer and Jasson Dominguez also went deep for the Yankees. Keibert Ruiz and James Wood homered on consecutive pitches in the seventh to give Washington a 3-2 lead, but in the ninth, the Nationals brought in lefthander Matt Krook, who had allowed 22 earned runs in 12 2⁄3 innings dating to 2023.

Krook yielded a one-out single by Dominguez and Chisholm followed with a drive into the second deck in rightfield. Wells added a solo shot off Justin Lawrence to make it 5-3.

David Bednar (3-3) worked the final two innings and earned the victory.

The Yankees remained four games behind AL East-leading Tampa Bay.

Rice homered in the first off Carson Palmquist, but he fouled a pitch off his right leg in the fifth and was shaken up, although he was able to stay in the game. Dominguez had given the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a homer off Zack Littell in the fourth.

The game was delayed two hours at the start, and a wet field might have prevented Washington from tying it in the sixth.

Yankees starter Ryan Weathers allowed a one-out double by CJ Abrams and Jacob Young followed with a single, but Abrams slipped rounding third and had to stay there. Fernando Cruz struck out the next two hitters to strand both runners.

The Yankees’ Paul Goldschmidt singled in the first to snap an 0-for-34 drought and also reached on an infield hit in the sixth.