NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 When the New York Yankees needed someone to save them Tuesday night, Aaron Judge practically put on a cape.<\/p>\n
Captain clutch, indeed.<\/p>\n
In a do-it-all effort for the ages, Judge hit a tying homer and drove in four runs as the Yankees staved off elimination by rallying past the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6<\/a> in Game 3 of their AL Division Series.<\/p>\n \u201cJust an awesome, MVP-like performance,\u201d New York manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cA pretty incredible night for the captain.\u201d <\/p>\n Judge went 3 for 4 with an intentional walk and scored three times, also making pivotal plays with his glove and legs as Yankee Stadium fans chanted \u201cMVP! MVP!\u201d<\/p>\n Down by five early, New York scored eight unanswered runs to prevent a three-game sweep and push the best-of-five playoff series to Game 4 on Wednesday night in the Bronx.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully he gets a bad night\u2019s sleep and has some bad food tonight or something like that,\u201d Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.<\/p>\n After struggling at the plate in previous postseasons, Judge is 7 for 11 in this series (.636) with five RBIs and three walks. <\/p>\n That makes him 11 for 22 (.500) with six RBIs, five runs and a 1.304 OPS in six playoff games this year as the two-time AL MVP and seven-time All-Star chases his first World Series ring at 33 years old.<\/p>\n Long way to go this October. But if not for Judge and 6 2\/3 scoreless innings from the New York bullpen Tuesday night, the season would already be over.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight was special, but there\u2019s still more work to be done,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully we have some more cool moments like this the rest of the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a go-ahead solo homer in the fifth, and New York improved to 3-0 in elimination games during these playoffs with the franchise\u2019s largest comeback ever in those situations.<\/p>\n The only time the Yankees overcame a bigger deficit in the postseason was when they climbed out of a 6-0 hole in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series at Atlanta. <\/p>\n Toronto, which committed a couple of costly errors that led to a pair of unearned runs, hadn\u2019t lost all season when leading by at least four.<\/p>\n With the Yankees trailing 6-1, consecutive doubles by Trent Grisham and Judge<\/a> to start the third began the comeback. Later in the inning, Judge stayed in a rundown between third base and home plate long enough to allow Cody Bellinger to reach third. That became important when Bellinger scored on Giancarlo Stanton\u2019s sacrifice fly. <\/p>\n New York was still down 6-3 in the fourth with two runners aboard when right-hander Louis Varland was brought in to face Judge, who sought out Stanton in the dugout for a scouting report.<\/p>\n Varland struck out Stanton in a key spot during Game 1.<\/p>\n \u201cBig G saw him in Toronto. I asked him, I hadn\u2019t seen Louis since he was with the Twins and was a starter. I wanted a brush up. I\u2019ve seen all the videos, seen all the appearances, but it\u2019s a difference when you step in the box and see him live. So I was talking to him about what certain pitches were like, what it felt like,\u201d Judge said.<\/p>\n \u201cAny info you can get like that kind of helps you sharpen your game plan a little bit and kind of gets you locked in a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge then turned on an 0-2 fastball clocked at 100 mph off the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, launching a three-run drive<\/a> that clanged high off the left-field foul pole for his 17th postseason homer.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess a couple ghosts out there helped kind of keep that fair,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Schneider called it \u201ca ridiculous swing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe made a really good pitch look really bad,\u201d Varland said. <\/p>\n Judge tossed his bat aside and gestured to teammates on the bench as the sellout crowd of 47,399 burst into a frenzy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing swing,\u201d Boone said. \u201cThat\u2019s shades of Edgar Mart\u00ednez right there, taking that high-and-tight one and keeping it fair down the line. Manny Ramirez used to do that really well, too. But just a great swing on a pretty nasty pitch, obviously.\u201d <\/p>\n At 99.7 mph, it was the fastest pitch Judge has ever homered on. And it was the first home run by any big leaguer on a pitch 99 mph or faster 1.2 feet inside from the center of the strike zone since pitch tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. I get yelled at for swinging at them out of the zone, but now I\u2019m getting praised for it,\u201d said Judge, who also went deep against Varland in the pitcher\u2019s major league debut with Minnesota in September 2022. \u201cI don\u2019t care what the numbers say or where something was at, I\u2019m just up there trying to put a good swing on a good pitch, and it looked good to me.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter he blew my doors off on the pitch before, I said just get ready, see a good pitch, and drive it.\u201d <\/p>\n