Things were not looking good for the Yankees at the top of Game 3 of the American League Division series. The Blue Jays kicked things off with a two-run homer from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first and it was looking like a sweep for Toronto.
Then Aaron Judge hit a home run to tie it up, and drove in four runs during a clutch performance for the ages, and the New York Yankees staved off elimination by rallying from five runs down to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 on Tuesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a go-ahead homer in the fifth inning and the Yankees took advantage of two Toronto errors to avoid a three-game sweep. They scored eight unanswered runs and pulled to 2-1 in the best-of-five series, with Game 4 going Wednesday night in the Bronx.
Judge went 3 for 4 with an intentional walk and scored three times, also making critical plays with his glove and legs as fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” After struggling at the plate in previous post-seasons, he is 7 for 11 in this series (.636) with five RBIs and three walks.
With the season on the line, New York starter Carlos Rodón gave up six runs and six hits — but five Yankees relievers combined for a little more than six scoreless innings. Tim Hill got four outs for the win, and David Bednar got his second playoff save.
It was the Yankees’s largest comeback ever in an elimination game, and tied for its second-biggest in any postseason game.
Early 2-run homer by Guerrero Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an early two-run homer and Ernie Clement had four hits for the AL East champion Blue Jays, who squandered a golden opportunity to put away the Yankees as Toronto tries to reach its first American League Championship Series since 2016.
Consecutive doubles by Trent Grisham and Judge to start the third began New York’s comeback from a 6-1 deficit. Later in the inning, Judge stayed in a rundown between third base and home plate long enough to allow Cody Bellinger to reach third. That became important when Bellinger scored on Giancarlo Stanton’s sacrifice fly against Toronto starter Shane Bieber.
Stanton also had an RBI single in the first after Blue Jays second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa committed a fielding error against his former team.
With the Yankees trailing 6-3 in the fourth, third baseman Addison Barger dropped Austin Wells’ wind-blown popup for another costly error with one out. Grisham walked, and right-hander Louis Varland was brought in to face Judge, who turned on an 0-2 fastball clocked at 100 mph off the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, launching a three-run drive that clanged off the left-field foul pole.
Judge tossed his bat aside and gestured to teammates on the bench as the sellout crowd of 47,399 burst into a frenzy.
The right fielder then made a diving catch with a runner at second in the fifth, drawing more “MVP” chants.
Chisholm gave the Yankees their first lead of the series with a solo homer off Varland in the bottom half. Amed Rosario doubled and scored on Wells’ two-out single to make it 8-6, and Ben Rice added a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Judge after he was intentionally walked with one out and nobody on base.
Davis Schneider drew a one-out walk in the first and Guerrero launched the 14th pitch of the game — a 2-0 changeup from Rodón — 427 feet into the Toronto bullpen in left-centre.
The next time up, Yankees fans cheered when Guerrero was intentionally walked following Schneider’s leadoff double in the third.
Guerrero went full-out Superman while diving across home plate to score on Clement’s single, and Anthony Santander’s two-run single capped a four-run inning that made it 6-1.
Rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler starts Wednesday night for New York, coming off a dominant performance in a winner-take-all Wild Card Series game against rival Boston last Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Toronto is expected to go with a bullpen game.
