The Toronto Blue Jays seemed in line to eliminate the New York Yankees on Tuesday before a heroic moment from superstar slugger Aaron Judge changed that.
Judge tied the game with a three-run homer off of reliever Louie Varland and those heroics pushed the Yankees to a 9-6 win and a chance to tie the series at home on Wednesday.
While giving Judge any opportunity to hit something might seem like a mistake in retrospect, given how productive he has been yet again this season, the Blue Jays don’t seem to have many regrets about how they approached the situation. When asked if he would have done anything differently in hindsight, Blue Jays manager John Schneider offered a three-word response on Judge’s performance.
“Give him credit,” Schenider said, per Matt Snyder of CBS Sports.
Varland delivered a 100-mph fastball to Judge high and inside the zone, and the slugger was barely able to keep it fair. Schneider seemed to feel the moment was more of a testament to Judge’s prowess rather than an admonition of the pitcher or decision.
“He puts the fastball by him, and you can go one of two ways,” Schneider added, per Snyder. “You can try to go up and in like he did. You can try to bury a breaking ball. Again, give him credit. You got to make pitches, sometimes you have to make really good pitches. It’s not like you’re waiting for that to happen, but you understand the talent he does possess.”
After Game 3, Judge is now slashing a Herculean .636/.714/1.091 in the series and the Blue Jays might avoid pitching to him as much as they can going forward, particularly following that one heroic swing. But as Schneider conceded after Tuesday’s game, there’s not much you can do against a superstar like Judge.
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