The Yankees kept their season alive on Tuesday night as Aaron Judge inspired the team to its biggest-ever comeback in an elimination game.
In a crucial ALDS Game 3 against the Blue Jays, the Yankees faced a five-run deficit before making a comeback to secure a 9-6 victory, thanks to a pivotal home run by Judge in the fourth inning.
Overall, Judge delivered an essential performance, driving in four runs amid the energetic atmosphere of Yankee Stadium, with fans like Bad Bunny in attendance.
The Puerto Rican musician, who was recently selected to do next year’s Super Bowl halftime show, was spotted sitting behind home plate.
He also managed to catch a foul ball when Toronto’s Anthony Santander hit one out of play, and was later seen joyfully celebrating Judge’s home run.
The Yankees found themselves in a 6-1 hole after starter Carlos Rodón gave up six runs and six hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Aaron Judge had a massive night for the Yankees as they staved off elimination
Bad Bunny was in attendance for the massive win as he sat behind home plate
Judge hit the tying home run in the bottom of the third inning to help the Yankees claw back
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an early two-run homer and Ernie Clement contributed four hits for the AL East champion Blue Jays. However, they missed a prime chance to eliminate the Yankees as Toronto aims for its first ALCS appearance since 2016.
With the game slipping away in the third inning, the Yankees mounted a comeback. Consecutive doubles by Trent Grisham and Judge sparked New York’s rally from a 6-1 deficit.
Later in the inning, Judge drew out a rundown between third and home plate, allowing Cody Bellinger to advance to third, setting up Bellinger’s eventual score on Giancarlo Stanton’s sacrifice fly off Toronto starter Shane Bieber, who was pulled after 2 2/3 innings.
Stanton also had an RBI single in the first after Blue Jays second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa committed a fielding error against his former team.
With the Yankees trailing 6-3 in the fourth, third baseman Addison Barger dropped Austin Wells´ wind-blown popup for another costly error with one out. Grisham walked, and right-hander Louis Varland was brought in to face Judge, who turned on an 0-2 fastball clocked at 100 mph off the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, launching a three-run drive that clanged high off the left-field foul pole.
Judge tossed his bat aside and gestured to teammates on the bench as the sellout crowd of 47,399 burst into a frenzy.
An inning later, Jazz Chisholm gave the Yankees their first lead of the series with a solo homer off Varland in the bottom half. Amed Rosario doubled and scored on Wells two-out single to make it 8-6, and Ben Rice added a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Judge after he was intentionally walked with one out and nobody on base
Following Rodon’s rocky outings, five Yankees relievers combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings. Tim Hill got four outs for the win, and David Bednar worked 1 2/3 perfect innings for his second playoff save as New York improved to 3-0 in elimination games this postseason.
The Puerto Rican artist has been tapped to perform the halftime show at next year’s Super Bowl
There was a raucous atmosphere at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees kept their season alive
The win also tied the Yankees’ record for its second-biggest comeback in any postseason game.
Rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler starts Wednesday night for New York, coming off a dominant performance in a winner-take-all Wild Card Series game against rival Boston last Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Toronto is expected to go with a bullpen game.
Bad Bunny’s appearance at the game comes amid the massive furor surrounding his forthcoming Super Bowl performance.
The Puerto Rican musician, who sings in Spanish, has previously been critical of President Trump’s immigration policies and recently admitted that he refused to tour in the US over concerns that his fans would be targeted by ICE.
On Monday, the president told Newsmax that he was unfamiliar with the 31-year-old musician but that the NFL was wrong to give him the gig.
‘I never heard of him, I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why they’re doing it, it’s like, crazy,’ Trump said.
For his part, Bad Bunny – who was born Benito Antonio Martinez – addressed his haters this weekend as he hosted Saturday Night Live.
‘You might not know this but I’m doing the Super Bowl halftime show and I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it – even Fox News,’ Bad Bunny said.
He then spoke in Spanish for several seconds before finishing his monologue by saying: ‘If you did not understand what I just said… you have four months to learn!’
