Giancarlo Stanton bails out Aaron Judge with wildly clutch ALDS Game 3 for Yankees

Aaron Judge still only has one hit in this ALDS, and it was an infield single in Game 2. He's yet to make an impact for this New York Yankees offense. But Playoff Giancarlo Stanton showed up in Game 3 to tilt the scales back in the Bombers' favor.

Stanton was the hero on Wednesday night. He went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in the Yankees' 3-2 win, which now has them set up nicely for the remainder of the series despite fans (yes, us too) feeling really bad about everything after the Game 2 defeat at Yankee Stadium.

Stanton's RBI double in the top of the fourth put the Yankees up 1-0 and made them forget about the ridiculous umpire ruling/replay review that screwed Gleyber Torres out of an RBI double in the third.

The Yankees eventually took a 2-0 lead, but it never felt like it was going to be enough. And it wasn't. With two outs in the fifth, Anthony Volpe couldn't handle a squibbler off the bat of Adam Frazier, which extended the inning. The Royals ended up scoring two, Schmidt was removed from the game after 4 2/3 innings, and it was time to burn the bullpen again.

Manager Aaron Boone once again navigated this one perfectly. He went Clay Holmes for 1 1/3, Tommy Kahnle for 1 1/3, and Luke Weaver for 1 2/3 to end it. That trio allowed just two hits and a walk, and Kahnle and Weaver had the pleasure of protecting the 3-2 lead after Stanton did this in the eighth.

That's how it would end. The Yankees now have a 2-1 lead in the series with Gerrit Cole pitching on Thursday. If the series goes to Game 5, that will be in front of a racuous Yankee Stadium with Carlos Rodón looking for redemption and a (hopefully) rested bullpen, including (potentially) Luis Gil.

But the story is the return of Playoff Stanton, who the Yankees badly need to make a run, especially with Judge off to a 1-for-11 start with no end in sight. He did hit a couple balls on the screws Wednesday, but both were outs, and he even got hosed on a terrible strike three call. The vibes are not in his favor. Not even close.

If Stanton can pick up the slack and ride the hot hand, that'll suffice until Judge can come back to life (it has to happen, right?). Stanton even stole a base in Game 3, which is something we're still fact checking to ensure we aren't misleading the readers.

This game was still too close for comfort and the Yankees, as a whole, are not delivering. They walked nine times and registered four hits, but went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. If you walk nine times, scoring three runs is simply unacceptable. And the Yankees would agree with that.

The Royals are leaving the door open for the Yanks to get hot. Will they take advantage of it? Or will they keep making these games excruciating? We'll think about that tomorrow, though. Let's enjoy this W for now.