Awkward Yankees-Rays moment involving Jazz Chisholm resolved itself nicely

Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen gained the respect of New York Yankees fans on Sunday, and it wasn't just because of his stellar six innings of work featuring seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed. While that was an impressive feat from Rasmussen the baseball player, Rasmussen the human also displayed admirable grace on Sunday during a weird situation involving Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.

It all started when Chisholm reached second base in the second inning against Rasmussen and started relaying pitch location to his Yankees teammates in the batter's box. This ticked off Rasmussen, who chewed out Chisholm in the middle of the game for the perceived malpractice. But Rasmussen was in the wrong here. As Michael Kay and Joe Girardi correctly pointed out during the YES broadcast, Chisholm wasn't breaking any rules.

Jazz Chisholm-Drew Rasmussen beef produced wholesome moment during Yankees-Rays

"(Chishom wasn't) doing anything illegal," Kay asserted. "It's kind of on (the Rays) to protect the signals." Girardi agreed, while also expressing sympathy for the fiery competitiveness of Rasmussen in that moment, which clearly boiled over and caused the right-hander to wrongfully snap at Chisholm.

But Rasmussen shocked everyone -- Kay and Girardi included -- when he apologized to Chisholm three innings later. After Chisholm popped out in the fifth, Rasmussen approached as he jogged off the diamond and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" twice, alluding to the prior altercation.

You have to love this from Rasmussen. It's extremely rare to see pitchers apologize to hitters during the heat of battle, even if it always seems like it should happen more often, especially during accidental hit-by-pitch situations. Although this ordeal was of a different nature, Rasmussen could have easily doubled down on his misplaced anger, but he chose to turn his prior mistake into small victory. Well played, sir.

While Yankees fans were taken aback by the entire situation, they couldn't have been too shocked that Chisholm was the one involved on the New York side of things. For some inexplicable reason, Chisholm has found his way into a lot of odd storylines and situations in recent months. He kept himself in the headlines over the winter with his reported contract demands and public display of 50-50 aspirations, and his controversial media dealings have continued into the regular season, with a recent postgame quote indicating he doesn't know the rules of the game.

Of course, any Jazz concerns that Yankees fans harbor would evaporate immediately if he just started hitting. Through 15 games, Chisholm is slashing .179/ .233/ .268/ .501 with zero homers and six stolen bases. That 50/50 season is already looking impossible. Jazz is going to start raking, though. He's way too talented for these numbers to persist, and this next homestand is the perfect opportunity for him to start turning things around.

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