Yankees' Aaron Boone disagrees with Jazz Chisholm Jr. that KC Royals 'just got lucky' in Game 2 win

After the Kansas City Royals won Game 2 of the American League Division Series over the New York Yankees on Monday night, New York third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. quickly made headlines with his statement that the Royals "just got lucky." Now, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is walking back the comment.

"I don’t think they got lucky," Boone told NY Post's Greg Joyce on Tuesday. "I think they did a lot of really good things and came in here and beat us [Monday] night."

Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s comments particularly latched onto after circumstances of Game 1 win over KC Royals

While Chisholm's comment reducing the Royals' win to luck is relatively mundane on the surface, the statement has stirred fans largely due to the fact that it comes mere days after New York won Game 1 of the ALDS due to a controversial — and lucky, for the Yankees — call on the field.

Game 1 of the ALDS included five lead changes — the most of any game in postseason history — but the seventh inning was the decider. With the game tied at 5-5, Chisholm got on base for the Yankees with a single, and then attempted to steal second when Royals pitcher Michael Lorenzen struck out Anthony Volpe. He was called safe on the field, and after being challenged by Royals manager Matt Quatraro, the call on the field was upheld.

The impact of the umpire's decision became only too real when just two batters later, Chisholm was driven home on a single from Alex Verdugo, scoring the final run of the game and securing the Game 1 win for the Yankees.

After the game, Royals second baseman Michael Massey made his feelings known.

"It's frustrating, because the video that I saw looked pretty convincing to me," Massey told Mick Schaffer of KSHB 41 News. "I know they said they didn't see anything but in my opinion, it's one of those things where if that's something that's not going to be overturned, I don't really know what's clear and convincing, and I'm not really sure of the whole point of this system."

Massey continued, "We tagged up the photos and you could see clear contact and you could see the daylight between [Chisholm's] foot and the base. I mean, if we're looking for more evidence than that, then I think a lot of calls need to start staying the same as they were called on the field."

It was a rough start to the series for Kansas City, and fans felt the team had been cheated by the questionable on-field call. Fortunately, the Royals evened the series two days later with a 4-2 win in Game 2 — but it was Chisholm who once again made headlines, and when he claimed the Royals "just got lucky," one can only assume the irony of the statement hadn't been recognized.

"It still feels the same, that we're going to win it," Chisholm told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch after the Royals won Game 2. "I don't feel like anybody feels any different. We're going to go out there and do our thing still; we still don't feel like any team is better than us. We had a lot of missed opportunities tonight, so they just got lucky."

While walking it back, Boone attempts to explain Chisholm's "lucky" statement about KC Royals

After commenting that he didn't think the Royals were just "lucky" in their Game 2 win, Boone went on to explain Chisholm's much-quoted comments.

"What [Chisholm Jr.] was referring to more was probably we did hit into some tough luck, there were some hard-hit balls," Boone told Joyce. "So that line of questioning continued to where Jazz can be colorful sometimes. In his head, because of the confidence he has in himself and our group, like, ‘Hey, they got lucky.’ But I don’t think that was the case. They obviously played really well. They played two really good games against us and earned themselves a victory [Monday] night.”

Game 3 of the ALDS is scheduled for Wednesday, October 9, at 6:08 p.m. CT. The game will mark the first postseason game at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium since the Royals beat the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series.