For better or worse, the Yankees so often go like Judge Aaron.
And so it took just one big swing to come back from the dead, courtesy of their captain, who performed CPR to breathe life into their season and his own postseason legacy.
In one game, the Yankees once trailed by five runs in the third inning, staring down elimination, Judge crushed a towering three-run shot to the top of the left field foul pole to tie the game in the fourth inning.
The signature playoff moment that had been missing opened the floodgates, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a home run of his own an inning later, giving the Yankees their first lead of the series and sending them on their way to a 9-6 victory over the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the ALDS Tuesday night in the Bronx.
“I know we were out there a little bit early, but the energy in that dugout and what we bring is we knew we were going to go out there and leave it all on the field,” Judge said. “We knew we were going to try to get back there. And to have a chance to tie it up like that, I liked our chances to go there, especially with our bullpen and our guys out there and the way our offense kind of rolled.”
On a night when the Blue Jays raced to an early 6-1 lead against Carlos Rodón, the Yankees bullpen delivered 6 ²/₃ shutout innings to extend the season and ensure that Judge’s moon shot counted. Fernando Cruz (four outs), Camilo Doval (three outs), Tim Hill (four outs) and Devin Williams (four outs) provided the bridge for David Bednar, who delivered a five-out save.
Judge’s dramatic Homer play, which sent the sellout crowd of 47,399 into pandemonium, punctuated a very exhibition game for the potential third MVP. He went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, a walk, four RBIs and three runs, and added a terrific diving catch in the top of the fifth at a time when the Blue Jays had the go-ahead run at second base.
“It was kind of guy performance in the game,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It was special when, obviously needless to say, we’re coming back against the wall and then in a Game 3 situation.”
Just like that, there’s a path for the Yankees, who will send Cam Schlittler to the mound for Game 4. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are expected to throw a relief game on Wednesday, on the heels of having to use six relievers to get through Tuesday after Shane Bieber lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings.
If the Yankees are going to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in Toronto, they will need to add to their 3-0 record in potential playoff elimination games.
“Tonight was special, but there is still more work to do,” Judge said. “Hopefully we have more cool moments like this the rest of the playoffs. We have another big game (Wednesday) night. Maybe we can do something special (Wednesday) night and talk to all of you one more time before we head back north.”
Judge, who entered the night 8-for-18 with seven singles and a double in the postseason, had a chance for a signature moment earlier this series in Game 1, but he struck out with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning of a game the Yankees trailed 2-0. The missed opportunity, which gave way to a 10-1 loss, seemed to linger over the rest of the series until he went to the plate in the fourth inning of Game 3, trailing 6-3 but with two men up and one out.
Hard-throwing Louis Varland advanced 0-2 before unleashing a 99.7 mph inside fastball that Judge lit up and sent into the October night. He stopped at home plate to watch it fly, making sure it was fair before flipping his bat and rounding the bases to a hero’s ovation as he tied it up 6-6.
“I guess a few spooks helped keep this fair,” Judge said, capitalizing on a rally that began with the wind helping Austin Wells reach a pop-up dropped by third baseman Addison Barger — the second Blue Jays error of the night, both leading to runs.
Chisholm also took Varland deep in the fifth inning, his on a 99 mph fastball up the middle on which he connected to put the Yankees up 7-6.
In 22 innings of this series before Chisholm’s broadside, the Blue Jays had led after 21 of them, the other being a 0-0 tie after the top of the first in Game 2.
And the 6-1 lead the Blue Jays had after two and a half innings in Game 3 seemed daunting except to those who had been on the wrong end of a 5-0 lead blown to the Dodgers in the deciding game of Game 5 of the World Series last October.
“I thought this happened to us before,” Chisholm said, “so why couldn’t it happen to them?”
