The New York Yankees live to see another day after they came back from a 6-1 deficit in the early goings against the Toronto Blue Jays to take a 9-6 win in the end. Carlos Rodon' poor start in which he allowed six runs in 2.1 innings necessitated some herculean performances from other parts of the roster, and they certainly got it, with Aaron Judge starring on the night with his monster home run and four total RBIs.
While Judge will take most of the plaudits for the Yankees' escape act, their bullpen deserves plenty of credit as well. After Rodon stunk up the joint with a poor start on the worst imaginable time, the Yankees' bullpen combined to throw 6.2 innings of shutout baseball — no mean feat against a Blue Jays lineup that's scored 29 runs thus far over three games in the ALDS.
Throughout the regular season, the Yankees' bullpen has been a sore spot. In particular, former All-Star Devin Williams hasn't played up to snuff in his first year in the Bronx. Williams has had his fair share of blown leads and late-game meltdowns, which is far from what the Yankees expected out of him.
But on Tuesday, Williams did his job, recording four outs, two of them via strikeout, and allowing just one hit. For what feels like the first time in a while, Williams came out to an ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd, for which he was very thankful for.
“I was honestly expecting to go a little further than I did,” Williams told reporters following the game, via YES Network on X. “It's awesome. It's nice to feel a little appreciated sometimes. It was definitely a lot better than what I've heard for much of the year.”
"It's nice to feel appreciated sometimes."
– Devin Williams after firing two key scoreless innings in Game 3 win pic.twitter.com/OQF6xuBPT7
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 8, 2025
Thus far in the postseason, Williams is yet to allow a run in 3.1 innings of work. He might be turning it around for the Yankees at the best possible time.
Yankees put up team effort to stave off elimination
As mentioned earlier, it wasn't just Judge who led the Yankees to victory even though he'll grab most of the headlines. It was Jazz Chisholm Jr. who hit a long ball to give them the lead in the fifth inning, Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs for good measure, and four other relievers joined Williams in shutting out the Blue Jays from the fourth inning onwards.
They will look to repeat this effort in Game 4 of their ALDS against the Blue Jays, which will be later tonight at 7:08 PM E.T.
