Aaron Judge: Yankees Win Rescued by Star’s Batting

NEW YORK (AP) — When the New York Yankees needed a saver Tuesday night, Aaron Judge practically put on a superhero cape.

Captain clutch, indeed.

In a monumental effort, Judge hit a game-tying home run and drove in four runs as the Yankees rallied to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 and avoid being eliminated in Game 3 of their American League Division Series.

“Just an incredible performance, worthy of an MVP,” said New York manager Aaron Boone. “Pretty incredible night for the captain.”

Judge went 3 for 4 with an intentional walk and scored three times, also making crucial plays with his glove and legs as the fans at Yankee Stadium chanted “MVP! MVP!”

Trailing by five runs early, New York scored eight unanswered to avoid a three-game sweep and extend the best-of-five playoff series to a game four Wednesday night in the Bronx.

“I hope he has a bad night’s sleep and eats something bad tonight or something,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

After struggling at the plate in previous postseasons, Judge is 7-for-11 in this series (.636) with five RBIs and three walks.

This leaves him 11-for-22 (.500) with six RBIs, five runs scored and a 1.304 OPS in six playoff games this year, as the two-time American League MVP and seven-time All-Star chases his first World Series ring at age 33.

There is a long way to go this October. But if it weren’t for Judge and the New York bullpen’s six 2/3 scoreless innings Tuesday night, the season would already be over.

“Tonight was special, but there is still work to do,” he said. “We hope to have more great moments like this the rest of the postseason.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a solo home run that put his team ahead in the fifth, and New York improved to 3-0 in elimination games during these playoffs with the franchise’s biggest comeback in those situations.

The only time the Yankees overcame a larger deficit in the postseason was when they came back from 6-0 down in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series in Atlanta.

Toronto, which made a couple of costly errors that led to a pair of unearned runs, had not lost all season when leading by at least four.

With the Yankees trailing 6-1, they began the comeback with consecutive doubles in the third by Trent Grisham and Judge. Later in the same inning, Judge stayed in a chase 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.

New York was still down 6-3 in the fourth with two runners on board when right-hander Louis Varland entered to face Judge, who sought out Stanton in the dugout for a scouting report.

Varland struck out Stanton in a key moment during Game 1.

“Big G saw him in Toronto. I asked him, I haven’t seen Louis since he was with the Twins and was a starter. I wanted an update. I’ve seen all the videos, all the appearances, but it’s different when you stand in the box and see it live. So I was talking to him about what certain pitches were like, what they felt like,” Judge said.

Judge hit an 0-2 fastball clocked at 100 mph into the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, blasting the ball high off the left-field foul pole for a three-run drive in his 17th postseason home run.

“I guess a couple of ghosts out there helped keep it fair,” he commented.

Schneider called it “a ridiculous swing.”

“He made a really good pitch look really bad,” Varland said.

Judge tossed his bat to the side and gestured toward his teammates on the bench as the crowd of 47,399 erupted into a frenzy.

“It’s an unbelievable swing,” Boone said. “That’s an Edgar Martinez touch right there, taking that high, tight pitch and keeping it right down the line. Manny Ramirez used to do that really well, too. But just a great swing on a pretty nasty pitch, obviously.”

At 99.7 mph, it was the fastest pitch Judge has ever hit a home run on.

“I don’t know. I get yelled at for swinging at pitches out of the zone, but now I get praised for it,” said Judge, who also hit deep against Varland in the pitcher’s major league debut with Minnesota in September 2022. “I don’t care what the numbers say or where something was, I’m just out there trying to take a good swing at a good pitch, and it felt good to me.”

The right fielder then made a diving catch with a runner on second in the fifth, drawing more “MVP” chants.

And in the sixth, Judge scored on Ben Rice’s sacrifice fly after being intentionally walked with one out and no one on base.

Call it a sign of respect. Or perhaps, fear.

“He’s had a good postseason. He’s had a pretty good career,” Schneider said. “There are times when you just don’t want him to swing.”

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