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The New York Yankees are not done yet. They rallied from a 6-1 deficit for their largest comeback win in an elimination game in franchise history, taking Game 3 of the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Yankees scored eight unanswered runs in the middle innings to secure a 9-6 victory. They'll now turn to rookie Cam Schlittler – whose first postseason start was a masterpiece in the Wild Card Series win over the Boston Red Sox – as they face elimination again Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays manager John Schneider will likely rely on a bullpen game to try to cool off a suddenly red-hot Yankees lineup.
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After being outscored 23-8 in the first two games, the Yankees needed to strike early. But the Yankee Stadium crowd was silenced almost immediately by another Vladimir Guerrero Jr. home run.
The red-hot slugger hammered a Carlos Rodón changeup over the left-center-field fence to make it 2-0 right away for Toronto. The Yankees responded with a Giancarlo Stanton two-out single in the bottom of the first inning, but the Blue Jays took the wind out of any Yankees sails in the top of the third.
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Toronto put up a four-spot as a slew of RBI singles from Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement and Anthony Santander made it a 6-1 game and knocked Rodón out, much like Max Fried in Game 2 when he couldn’t go more than three innings.
But the Yankees continued to hang around and responded as Aaron Judge hit an RBI double in the bottom half of the third, while Stanton came through again with a sacrifice fly to score Cody Bellinger and make it a 6-3 game.
The Blue Jays still owned a solid lead after three innings, but the Yankees were simply looking for that one break and one moment that could potentially turn everything around in this series. That’s what they got when what seemed to be an easy pop-up by Austin Wells turned into a crucial error by Addison Barger in short left field.
With Wells on second base and Trent Grisham walking, Judge came to the plate with a chance to tie the game with one swing. Judge has been critiqued heavily for his postseason career, and though he has a playoff-high total of hits thus far, he hasn’t done what he does best — hit the ball out of the ballpark.
If there was ever a time for another signature Judge moment, this was it — against Louis Varland, the Blue Jays’ high-leverage reliever who has given up two long balls to No. 99 in his career.
With a two-strike count, Judge swung at a 99.7 mph fastball well off the plate inside and roped it down the left-field line. It banged off the foul pole for a three-run home run to tie the game at six, and the Yankee faithful awoke with a collective roar.
Of course, the Yankees knew the game was only tied and they needed more runs to keep their season alive. In the bottom of the fifth, Jazz Chisholm Jr. knew he got all of a Varland fastball when he hammered it to the second deck in right field for the team’s first lead of the series. Wells added some insurance with an RBI single to make it 8-6.
The Yankees, now holding a 9-6 lead thanks to a Ben Rice sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, needed nine outs from their top two bullpen arms, Devin Williams and David Bednar, to move on to Game 4. Williams came through with four outs, including two strikeouts, while Bednar provided the final five outs without allowing a hit.
New York also wouldn’t have been in position to win this game if it weren’t for Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval and Tim Hill shutting down the Blue Jays’ offense while the Yankees chipped away at the deficit.
Game 4 will be an 8:08 p.m. ET first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
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