The New York Yankees held off elimination Tuesday night, forcing a do-or-die Game 4 against the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday with a 9-6 come-from-behind win. Aaron Judge hit a game-tying three-run home run, his teammates added on and the bullpen managed to keep the Blue Jays in check in the later innings, enough to survive for one more game. The win marked the largest comeback win in playoff elimination game in team history. If they can win two more games -- and thus the ALDS -- they'll be the first team to come back from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-5 playoff series since they did so in 2017 against Cleveland.
In the other ALDS game of the day, the Mariners came out of a three-hour rain delay, the Mariners got down to business and took down the Tigers, holding on to an 8-4 victory thanks to home runs from Eugenio Suárez, J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh. Seattle now take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 Wednesday with a chance to move on to the ALCS with a win.
Let's break down both games by winners and losers.
Winner: The Yankees
We needn't overthink this. The Yankees erased an early 6-1 deficit in Game 3 and scored eight unanswered runs to force a Game 4 on Wednesday. That makes them the day's big winner. The Blue Jays jumped on Carlos Rodón early, much like they did Luis Gil in Game 1 and Max Fried in Game 2, and it looked like the Yankees were on their way to another embarrassing blowout loss.
Rather than wilt like they did in the first two games, the Yankees rallied back against Shane Bieber and the Toronto bullpen, and lived to play another day. Aaron Judge went deep, so did Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Devin Williams and David Bednar combined to record the final nine outs with the season on the line. It was a big-time performance up and down the lineup and from the bullpen.
The five-run comeback is tied for the second largest postseason comeback in Yankees history, and tied for the third largest in an elimination game in baseball history. The Yankees, it should be noted, have never been swept in a best-of-five ALDS. They are now 4-0 in Game 3 when down 2-0 in the series.
Loser: Judge's postseason demons
No more can Aaron Judge be accused of not having a signature postseason moment. With his team down 6-3 in the fourth inning of Game 3, Judge walloped a game-tying three-run home run off the left field foul pole, and it was a 1 of 1 homer. Louie Varland tried to tie Judge up with a 100 mph heater in on hands, and the MVP favorite turned it around.
According to Statcast, it was both the fastest pitch (99.7 mph) and the farthest inside pitch (1.2 feet) Judge has homered on his career, and also the fastest inside pitch any batter has hit for a home run since pitch-tracking began in 2018. It was a special home run. The kind MVPs and players on Hall of Fame trajectories hit.
Of course, the Yankees still have to win the ALDS for Judge's home run to really become the stuff of legend, but the captain is putting the Yankees on his back this series. He is 7 for 11 with a double and Tuesday's game-tying homer in the three games against Toronto. For at least one day, Judge proved his postseason bona fides.
Winners: Logan Gilbert, Mariners' road offense
Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert had pretty drastic splits in the regular season: a 2.24 ERA at home and 4.74 on the road, though he was actually very good in his last three road starts. Perhaps that was the encouragement Mariners management needed to use him in a road game here. The decision worked. Gilbert was brilliant. He gave up just one run on four hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking none. We can argue he actually deserved to have allowed zero runs. There was a double-play ball to end the fifth inning and the throw to first by J.P. Crawford was in the dirt with first baseman Josh Naylor unable to bring it in. The rules stipulate that we can't assume a double play, so Gilbert is charged the run and no error is assigned. We just wanted to point out how close he was to a scoreless outing.
Also, give credit to the Mariners' bats.
Then again, it wasn't all that shocking. Those Mariners' bats, they travel well. After runs were very hard to come by in ALDS Games 1 and 2, the Mariners were able to put up a bunch. Eugenio Suárez and Crawford -- immediately atoning for his errant throw -- hit home runs. Victor Robles doubled and scored to get things started in the third, followed by a Randy Arozarena RBI single. Cal Raleigh came through with a two-out, RBI single. Crawford had a big single early and a sac fly late. And, of course, there was a two-run Raleigh shot in the top of the ninth to put some serious distance between the Mariners and Tigers.
Remember, Seattle's T-Mobile Park is the worst one in baseball for hitters. If we just isolated stats to account for road games only, the Mariners were third in average, second in OPS, tied for first in home runs and third in runs scored. They flexed their muscles in Game 3.
Loser: Jack Flaherty
The Tigers had Flaherty last season and he was good. They traded him to the Dodgers and he was good enough to win a World Series ring as part of the short-handed rotation. The Tigers brought him back on a two-year, $35 million deal. At age 29, you'd hope he isn't on a downward slide yet, but he's had a bad year. That continued into Game 3 here Thursday.
Flaherty was actually good through two innings. The bottom of the Mariners' order started unraveling things for him in the third though. Despite starting the game with two scoreless innings, Flaherty ended up with four runs allowed in 3 ⅓ innings. Due in part to season-ending injuries for pitchers like Jackson Jobe and Reese Olson, the Tigers desperately needed some pitchers behind likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal to step up. It was Flaherty's chance in Game 3. He failed to answer the call.
