NEW YORK — A monster performance by Aaron Judge allowed the New York Yankees to keep their season going.
It also provided them a chance to get rookie Cam Schlittler another opportunity at making a postseason start.
Schlittler will be on the mound Wednesday night when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays and attempt to even the American League Division Series at two wins apiece.
The Blue Jays will employ a bullpen game, with Louis Varland serving as the opener after he endured an ugly relief outing on Tuesday.
The Yankees are trying to overcome a two-games-to-none deficit in the best-of-five division series for the third time. They achieved the feat in 2001 against the Athletics and in 2017 against Cleveland.
Judge is 7-for-11 in the series after going 3-for-4 with four RBIs in New York’s 9-6 win on Tuesday. The two-time MVP helped keep the Yankees alive by hitting a tying three-run homer in the fourth inning off Varland. He also made a diving catch in right field in the fifth inning, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Ben Rice in the sixth.
“Tonight was special, but there’s still more work to be done,” Judge said after the Tuesday contest. “Hopefully we have some more cool moments like this the rest of the postseason. We’ve got another big game tomorrow night.”
Judge helped the Yankees overcome a 6-1 deficit, improving his average to .500 (11-for-22) in six playoff games this season. He also is 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position in the postseason. Including the playoffs, Judge is batting .397 (48-for-121) with 14 homers and 27 RBIs over his past 36 games since Aug. 27.
“It was the best-player-in-the-game type (of) performance,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It was special when obviously, needless to say, we’re backs against the wall and then some in a Game 3 situation. “
The Blue Jays hit .392 and scored 23 runs in the first two games at Toronto, but they mustered just two hits in the final five innings of Game 3. Errors by second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and third baseman Addison Barger set up four runs for the Yankees.
Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer in the first inning and is 8-for-13 with eight RBIs and five runs in the series.
Ernie Clement had four hits and is 7-for-11 in the series, but the Blue Jays struck out 11 times. George Springer went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, and Alejandro Kirk was 0-for-4.
“It just goes to show if you leave your foot off the gas for even a second, a good team will pounce on you and make stuff happen,” Clement said.
Schlittler will take the mound after a historic 12-strikeout performance in eight innings during a 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the AL wild-card series on Thursday.
The 24-year-old right-hander threw 107 pitches and allowed five hits in his postseason debut, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to toss at least eight scoreless innings and fan at least 12 without allowing a walk in a postseason game.
Since making his major league debut on July 9, Schlittler had his worst start on Sept. 5 in a home game against the Blue Jays. He lasted 1 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits in a 7-1 loss. Toronto batters fouled off 24 of Schlittler’s 66 pitches.
“It was impressive how many foul balls there were, but I think I’m a different pitcher now than I was when I faced them a month ago and now even from two weeks ago,” Schlittler said Tuesday afternoon.
“They had a good game plan that day and they were able to foul a lot of balls off and work my count. Going into tomorrow, just making sure that I can make those adjustments and get the weak contact that I’m looking for.”
Schlittler also pitched in New York’s lone win in Toronto this year, on July 22. In that outing, he allowed two runs on seven hits in five innings for a no-decision, throwing 90 pitches in the Yankees’ 5-4 victory.
Toronto heads into a bullpen game one day after using six relievers — Mason Fluharty, Varland, Braydon Fisher, Brendon Little, Yariel Rodriguez and Tommy Nance — to cover 5 1/3 innings. Every Blue Jays reliever except Justin Bruihl, Jeff Hoffman and Rodriguez has pitched at least twice in the series.
Varland got three outs on Tuesday, but he served up Judge’s tying homer in the fourth inning and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s go-ahead blast in the fifth.
Eric Lauer is expected to serve as the Blue Jays’ bulk reliever. The left-hander allowed three hits while getting only one out in the seventh inning on Sunday. He has faced the Yankees in the regular season just once in his career, when he threw 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball for a win in 2019.
“These guys will be ready to go,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “It’s really comforting for me to see them do that all year. I know they’re going to do it again and you have to take out the outside noise that comes with playing here and all that kind of stuff.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
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