The Yankees aren’t done just yet. They can thank Aaron Judge for that.
With his Yankees on the brink of elimination, Judge gave them new life in the most dramatic of fashions, clubbing a game-tying three-run home run to cap a historic comeback in Game 3 of the ALDS.
Judge’s instant-classic blast served as the biggest blow in the Yankees’ 9-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx, prolonging their season for at least one more day.
The Yankees are now down, 2-1, in the best-of-five playoff series.
The Yankees trailed by as many as five runs in Tuesday night’s win-or-go-home Game 3, and they were down, 6-3, when Judge came up with two on and one out in the bottom of the fourth.
Toronto turned to flame-throwing right-hander Louis Varland to face Judge, who fouled off the reliever’s first pitch and swung through his second, a 100-mph fastball.
But Judge launched Varland’s 0-2 offering — another 100-mph heater, this one well inside — down the left-field line, and the slugger paused at home plate to see if his towering drive would land fair or foul.
The ball clanged high off the foul pole, which tied the game, 6-6, and prompted a bat flip from Judge as a frenzied crowd of 47,399 left Yankee Stadium shaking.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a go-ahead solo home run against Varland in the bottom of the fifth, and that stood up as the game-winner.
The Yankees had returned to the Bronx in an 0-2 series hole after back-to-back blowout losses in Toronto, where the Blue Jays outscored them, 23-8, in Games 1 and 2.
The 23 runs were the most the Yankees had ever allowed over a two-game span in the postseason.
The Blue Jays began Game 3 with more of the same, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. clubbed a two-run home run against Carlos Rodón in the first inning.
Guerrero’s 427-foot blast was his third home run of the series and made him the fifth player to homer in three consecutive playoff games against the Yankees.
The Yankees cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI double from Giancarlo Stanton against Jays starter Shane Bieber, but the Blue Jays were far from finished.
The Jays rallied for four runs in the top of the third, culminating with a two-run single by Anthony Santander that gave the Blue Jays a 6-1 lead and ended Rodón’s night.
Toronto tagged Rodón for six runs on six hits and two walks over 2.1 innings in the third consecutive short outing by a Yankee starter.
Luis Gil allowed two runs in 2.2 innings in Game 1, while Max Fried surrendered seven runs over 3+ innings in Game 2. Overall, the Yankees’ starters have allowed 15 runs in eight innings in the ALDS for a 16.88 ERA.
But this time, it wasn’t too much for the Yankees to overcome.
The Yankees got two runs back in the third inning with an RBI double by Judge and a 405-foot sacrifice fly from Stanton against Bieber, making it a 6-3 game.
Judge then delivered his three-run home run an inning later in what was perhaps the biggest postseason hit of his 10-year career.
The 33-year-old Judge entered this postseason with a .205 average in 58 career playoff games.
Tuesday’s home run was his first in these playoffs but the 17th of his postseason career, good for the fifth most in Yankees history. It was Judge’s sixth home in a game in which the Yankees faced elimination, tying him with David Ortiz for the most in elimination games in playoff history.
Judge finished Tuesday’s game 3-for-4 with an intentional walk and four RBI. He is now 11-for-22 (.500) with a 1.304 OPS and six RBI in six playoff games this year.
He also made a diving catch in the top of the fifth inning with a runner at second base, preventing a Toronto run and maintaining what was then a tied game.
Chisholm’s clutch homer was also his first of the postseason and resulted in an even more emphatic bat flip than Judge’s. Chisholm sent a 99-mph fastball from Varland deep into the right-field stands.
Austin Wells added an RBI single in the fifth and Ben Rice tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Just as significantly, the Yankees received 6.2 scoreless innings from five relievers, including Devin Williams, who got four outs, and closer David Bednar, who got the final five.
The five-run comeback was the largest ever in a Yankees victory in an elimination game. It was one run shy of their biggest comeback win in any playoff game.
The Yankees will attempt to even the series on Wednesday night in the Bronx, with rookie phenom Cam Schlittler set to start. It will be the 24-year-old Schlittler’s first start since he hurled eight shutout innings in last week’s winner-take-all Wild Card Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox.
The Blue Jays are expected to deploy a bullpen game in Game 4. Toronto needed 19 outs from its bullpen on Tuesday after Bieber lasted only 2.2 innings.
