The New York Yankees have not said their last word in the division series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Aaron Judge drove in four runs, including three on his first home run of the series, and the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit to win 9-6 on Tuesday in the third meeting of the series between the two rivals. Toronto leads the series 2-1.
Judge finished the game with three hits and three runs scored. He reached the trail four times while drawing a walk and he has a batting average of .500 since the start of the playoffs.
After completely dominating the first two games in Toronto, the Jays picked up where they left off quite quickly in Game 3.
In the first inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his third home run in three games. He brought along Davis Schneider to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Vladdy became the first Blue Jays player to hit home runs in three consecutive playoff games.
The Yankees answered in their first at-bat when a Giancarlo Stanton single scored Aaron Judge.
After an uneventful second inning, the Jays once again made their bat resonate with a four-run surge in the third. Dalton Varsho and Ernie Clement first hit singles, then Anthony Santander ended Carlos Rodon’s night with a two-run single. The Yankees left-hander managed only seven outs before being sent to the showers.
Backed against the wall in the third inning, the Yankees responded with two runs in their turn at bat to reduce the gap to three runs.
From the next round, the captain of the Bronx Bombers stood up. With two runners on the trail, Judge tied the game on one run with a resounding home run against the boundary pole in left field.
Judge’s first home run of the series gave his teammates wings. In the fifth, Jazz Chisholm followed his captain’s lead and also hit a long ball. This solo homer from the second baseman allowed the Yankees to take their first ever lead in this series.
The Yankees added two more runs later, one on an Austin Wells single and another on a Ben Rice sacrifice fly, to take a 9-6 lead and cruise to their first victory in this series.
After the departure of Rodon, the New York team did a great job shutting out the Jays for the rest of the game. Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval, Tim Hill, Devin Williams and David Bednar limited the Jays to just three hits in 6 2/3 innings. They struck out nine and did not allow a walk. Bednar made his second save of the series, making the final five outs of the game.
Shane Bieber didn’t last long on the mound either. John Schneider also took him out of the game after just two and two-thirds innings of work. The right-hander then allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits.
The loss went to reliever Louis Varland, who allowed home runs to Judge and Chisholm.
The fourth duel in this series will take place on Wednesday, still at Yankee Stadium. The Jays will have another opportunity to eliminate the Yankees in New York to advance to the championship series.
