Sloppy Jays blow 6-1 lead, Judge swats Yanks back into ALDS

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In the city where Reggie Jackson became known as Mr. October, Blue Jays star Vlad Guerrero Jr. liked to play the villain and act like a rude guest who thought it was his home.

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He thrives on the Yankee Stadium stage and delivers accordingly time after time.

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It was certainly early on a wild Tuesday night in the Bronx as Guerrero was ready to make his biggest announcement yet. He acted as the lead man, leading his team to an early 6-1 lead over the Yankees to set up what seemed like a celebratory dance for the best-of-five series

And then, fellow Bronx Bombers superstar Aaron Judge reminded the baseball world who presides over the famous ballpark.

A massive three-run umpire in the fourth inning tied it for the Yankees, who took advantage of some terrible, sloppy Blue Jays defense to carry it to a 9-6 victory.

Instead of celebrating with champagne and traveling in pirogues before their first ALCS appearance since 2016, suddenly the Blue Jays feel like they're in the line.

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After watching the Bronx Bombers score eight unanswered runs to take the squeeze victory, the Jays must hurry. Sure, that may sound like an overreaction after one bitterly disappointing loss, but we're about to find out what manager John Schneider's team is made of.

As it turned out, Tuesday's winning blast was a solo homer from Yankee Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fifth to give his team a 7-6 lead that would not be surrendered.

With the Yankees back in the series and their young and fresh rookie Ice Cam Schlittler set to start Wednesday, division rivals will contest Game 4 in an area that featured stunning drama on Tuesday.

The Jays will face what will be a bullpen day, a challenge in itself, considering their Game 3 starter, Shane Bieber, lasted just 2.2 innings, forcing manager John Schneider to use six of them.

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If the Yankees prevail again, it will force a one-game showdown at the Rogers Center on Friday.

It was certainly a night of wild swings and missed opportunities for the Jays on Tuesday, a game in which they must have sensed the opportunity in front of them before unloading it.

Our conclusions:

Star on a star

The marquee highlight of this episode was about the heavyweight fight between Guerrero and the referee.

And no star player, larger than life, backed down in Game 3.

In the first, and then it was Guerrero in the first, and then diving in to score another run in the third, continuing to emphatically mark his territory in the series. With three home runs in three games, the young Jays Moung Star First Baseman has done his part.

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But not to be outdone, Judge was a showstopper with his fourth-inning homer, in which he took a 99.7 mph off a Jays Louis Warland fastball that was more than a foot inside.

It was a stunning and sublime display of hitting from one of the greats, a ball that hooked and hooked before lofting high up the yellow pole in left field. Judge has now hit six home runs as his team faces playoff elimination, tying Red Sox Great David Ortiz for the most in MLB history.

Suddenly the game was 6-1 early and 6-3 when the umpire entered the batter box and was square. With the season on the line, the big man came up with a swing for centuries that lowered the house.

Jace never recovered.

Umpire reached base four times for the second straight game, while Guerrero had multiple hits in all three games of the series so far.

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Mistakes on their way

A Jays team that played pure ball defense for so much of the 2025 season in many ways handed the Yankees a win and a lifeline back into the series on Tuesday.

The first inning featured the start of Isiah Kiner-Falefa's tired ball that would have allowed starter Shane Bieber to get out of the seven-pitch inning. Instead, the Yankees ran through and survived.

Another error occurred in the fourth in shallow water when third baseman Addison Barger overruled Davis Schneider, who charged his pitch to make a play only to throw out the ball. Two batters later, the umpire hit his potential run-changing shot to tie the game.

This mistake was the most egregious, as Barger attempted to run down an easy panel from Austin Wells, but the ball was deflected off his glove. What should have been a two-out, soon-to-be nobody soon led to umpire drama and a special teams run changing the run.

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That effort, plus a ground ball that went under Guerrero's glove to lead to another late Yankee run, was uncharacteristic of a Jays team that thrived on doing the little things, as it did during the 94-win regular season.

Stuttering begins

In what should have been a compelling showdown between starting pitchers, both Jace Shane Bieber and Yankees Carlos Rodon came up short for their teams.

Both did not make it out of the third inning. And both put enormous stress on their respective bullpens.

Bieber was taken out after 2.2 innings, allowing five hits and just two earned runs, but the Yankee hitters struggled.

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Meanwhile, Rodon chased down just 2.1 innings of work and six runs on six hits. I

Now what?

One of the inner beauties of playoff baseball is how quickly fortunes can change, especially in a shortened series.

The Jays and their fans certainly won't be waking up Wednesday, but a series that seemed to end in the third inning on Tuesday is now filled with drama. Jace is still in the driver's seat, but just as quickly as they had the scent, the possibility of what's looming on Friday night may be emerging.

Really crazy.

By the way, this is the fourth time the Yankees have trailed 0-2 in the ALDS, having stormed to victory in two of the previous three. They also squeeze at home when facing elimination—now 11-3 in their previous 14 games facing the prospect. Tuesday's heroics allowed them to become just the fifth team in MLB history to overcome a five-run deficit in a game in which they faced elimination.

On Wednesday, Schneider will have to channel his creativity to find a way for his team to take care of business. Game 4, if he arrived, was always going to be a bullpen day as the Jays entered the ALDS with just three starters.

The series wasn't over for the Soybeans – far from it – but on a depressing night in the Bronx, it must have felt that way. And there are enough remaining Jays on the roster, including manager Schneider, who have fond memories of the 8-1 lead that saw the Jays explode in the Seattle-Mariners wild-card game.

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