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 must-win ALDS Game 3 against the Blue Jays, the Yankees found themselves five runs down before rallying to a 9-6 win helped by a tying home run from Judge in the fourth inning.
All in all, he delivered a massively clutch performance as he drove in four runs in front of a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd – which included Bad Bunny in the stands.
The Puerto Rican musician, who was recently selected to do next year’s Super Bowl halftime show, was spotted sitting behind home plate.
He even caught a foul ball at one point as Toronto’s Anthony Santander popped a ball out of play, and he was later seen gleefully 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. hit an early two-run homer and Ernie Clement had four hits for the AL East champion Blue Jays, who ultimately squandered a golden opportunity to put away the Yankees as Toronto tries to reach its first ALCS since 2016.
But with their backs against the wall in the bottom of the third inning, the Yankees fought back, as consecutive doubles by Trent Grisham and Judge to start the inning spurred New York´s comeback from a 6-1 deficit.
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´s sacrifice fly against Toronto starter Shane Bieber, who lasted 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!’
