Aaron Judge hit the tying homer and drove in four runs during a clutch performance, and the New York Yankees averted elimination by rallying behind five runs to win Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 Tuesday night in Game 3 of the AL Division Series.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a go-ahead homer in the fifth inning and the Yankees took advantage of two Toronto errors to avoid winning in three games. They scored eight unanswered runs to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, with Game 4 taking place Wednesday night in the Bronx.
“We’ll need another one tomorrow,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We enjoy this for about 10 minutes and get ready for tomorrow.”
Judge went 3-for-4 with an intentional walk and scored three times while also making critical glove and kick hits as fans chanted “MVP! MVP! After struggling at the plate in previous postseasons, he is 7-for-11 in this series (.636) with five RBIs and three walks.
“Tonight was special, but there’s still a lot of work ahead,” the Yankees skipper said. “Hopefully we have a few more big moments like this before the end of the postseason.”
With the season on the line, New York starter Carlos Rodon gave up six runs and six hits in 2.1 innings, but five Yankees relievers bailed him out as the Jays remained scoreless the rest of the way. Tim Hill got four strikeouts for the win and David Bednar worked 1.2 perfect innings for his second save of the playoffs as New York improved to 3-0 in elimination games this postseason.
It was the Yankees' largest comeback in an elimination game and the second-largest in any postseason game. Toronto hasn't lost all season, leading by at least four runs.
“We just didn't really play our game,” manager John Schneider said. “Their bullpen did a really good job and we just gave them extra innings.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an early two-run homer and Ernie Clement had four hits for the AL East champion Blue Jays, who missed a golden opportunity to put off the Yankees as Toronto tries to reach its first American League Championship Series since 2016.
Back-to-back doubles from Trent Grisham and Judge to start the third sparked New York's comeback from a 6-1 deficit. Later in the inning, Judge remained in the rundown between third base and home plate long enough to allow Cody Bellinger to advance to third. It became important when Bellinger scored on Giancarlo Stanton's sacrifice fly against Toronto starter Shane Bieber, which lasted 2.2 innings.
Stanton also had an RBI single in the first after Blue Jays second baseman Isaiah Kiner-Falefa committed a fielding error against his former team.
With the Yankees trailing 6-3 in the fourth and third baseman. Addison Barger removed Austin Wells popup for another costly error with one out. Grisham walked, and right-hander Louis Warland faced Judge, who swung an 0-2 fastball at 100 mph from the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, launching a three-run shot that bounced high off the left foul pole.
“He made a really good pitch with a really bad pitch,” Warland said.
Judge tossed his bat aside and pointed to his teammates sitting on the bench as the sold-out crowd of 47,399 went wild.
“It's an amazing turnaround,” Boone said. “It's something from Edgar Martinez, where he took a high and tight shot and kept it fair all the way down the line. Manny Ramirez did that very well, too. But obviously it's just a great shot on a pretty nasty pitch.”
Judge then made a diving catch on the runner on second in the fifth, prompting more “MVP” chants.
Chisholm gave the Yankees their first lead of the series with a solo homer off Warland 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 no one on base.
Call it the ultimate sign of respect. Or perhaps fear.
