Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had his moment in Toronto. Aaron’s judge responded Tuesday night in New York.
The Blue Jays’ normally tight defense had holes in Game 3 and the pitching wasn’t much better.
The Yankees took full advantage, fueled by a three-run homer by the Judge, in a 9-6 victory to avoid a three-game sweep of the American League Division series.
The Blue Jays are still in control, but they will need to be better in Game 4 on Wednesday to avoid a Winner-ALL winner Game 5 on Friday at Rogers Center.
“Walks and errors will kill you against this team,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “So I think that was the turning point a little bit.”
Early 2-run homer by Guerrero Jr.
With five days off between games last week, it can be easy to forget that Toronto had not lost a game since September 24. Four wins to close the season were followed by a 10-1 run by the Yankees in Game 1 and a 13-7 victory, highlighted by a grand slam by Guerrero, in Game 2 in Toronto.
With the series shifting to Yankee Stadium, the sold-out crowd in baseball town was vocal from the start. “O Canada” was loudly booed before the game and a two-run homer by Guerrero in the opening frame only unsettled the crowd of 47,399 even more.
Guerrero scored again in Toronto’s four-run third inning, driving around third base on an Ernie Clement single and delivering a Superman slide to beat the pitch home.
A two-run single by Anthony Santander made it 6-1, forced starter Carlos Rodon out, and began chants of “Let’s Go Blue Jays” alongside the Toronto faithful sitting near the road dugout.
The Yankees, to their credit, shut down and converted their opportunities.
Founding second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa led to an unearned run for New York in the first. Toronto starter Shane Bieber was ineffective at times and was drawn for New York’s two-run third.
The game turned into the fourth inning shortly after Addison Barger misplaced a fly ball from Austin Wells on a two-base error.
“It just started putting toward the stands a little bit, which is a little strange for a left-handed ball,” Barger said. “Usually they would come back towards the line at the end.
“So I took off the other side and tried to get to it and knock it off the tip of my glove.”
Louis Varland walked Trent Grisham to set the stage for Judge, who hit a gigantic sprite blast that high foul pole in left field to tie the game at six.
“He made a really good pitch look really bad,” Varland said.
Yankee Stadium felt like it was shaking as the superstar slugger trotted around the bases with the crowd chanting “MVP” along the way.
“I’m out there trying to put a good swing on a good pitch, and it felt good to me,” Judge said.
A Jazz Chisholm Jr. Solo Shot gave New York a lead for the first time in the series and the Yankees never looked back.
“Just an amazing team win,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “A lot of guys playing an important role in some way, shape or form makes it a lot of fun.”
It was the Yankees’ biggest comeback victory in a playoff game since overcoming a five-run deficit in Game 1 of the 2010 AL Championship Series against the Texas Rangers.
“It just shows if you let your foot off the gas for a second, a good team will jump on you and make things happen,” Clement said.
Coming back from a 6-1 deficit with eight unanswered runs has built momentum in this meeting of Eastern Division rivals.
Making matters more difficult is that the Blue Jays were expected to go with a bullpen day in Game 4. Varland will start and pitch whenever effective.
“These guys will be ready to go,” Schneider said. “It’s really heartwarming for me to see them do that all year. I know they’ll do it again tomorrow.”
The Blue Jays are looking for their first series win since 2016 when they reached the AL Championship Series for the second straight year.
The Yankees won the pennant last year before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
