Judge homers in 4th straight but Orioles win 9-7 to again prevent Yankees from clinching AL East

NEW YORK (AP) Gunnar Henderson had three of Baltimore's 12 hits in the first four innings, and the Orioles again prevented the New York Yankees from clinching the AL East title by holding on for a 9-7 victory Wednesday night despite another home run from Aaron Judge.

Colton Cowser drove in three runs for the playoff-bound Orioles, who dinged substitute starter Marcus Stroman early and improved to 8-4 against New York with one matchup left in their season series.

“We’re just focusing on us," Henderson said. "I feel like we’re starting to get it going at the right time.”

Judge went deep for the fourth game in a row, connecting on his major league-leading 57th homer in a four-run ninth inning.

The three-run shot off Matt Bowman upped Judge's career-best total to 142 RBIs, also most in the majors, and shaved New York's deficit to 9-7.

“No quit in the team there all the way till the end,” Judge said. “I never feel like we’re ever out of a game no matter the score.”

Keegan Akin retired the next two batters for his third career save and first this year.

Juan Soto also homered and knocked in three runs for New York, which could have wrapped up the AL East race with a victory over the Orioles either of the past two nights. Anthony Volpe had an RBI single.

“Nothing’s been easy for us this year. Shouldn’t expect it to be now. But we’ve kind of persevered and kind of grinded our way through all of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Baltimore moved within four games of the Yankees in the division standings with four remaining. Cedric Mullins went 3 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

Assured at least an American League wild card, the second-place Orioles secured their second consecutive trip to the postseason Tuesday night when their 5-3 win at Yankee Stadium was paired with Minnesota's loss to Miami nine minutes later.

Baltimore enjoyed a booze-filled bash in the visitors' clubhouse afterward, but it was the Yankees who appeared a little hungover Wednesday.

Stroman (10-9) was a late replacement for injured left-hander Nestor Cortes and gave up six straight singles to begin the game - several of them not hit very hard - as the Orioles grabbed a 3-0 lead.

Rookie outfielder Jasson Domínguez overran Cowser's two-run single, a flyball that fell in the left-field corner.

“He’s missed some plays that he should make,” Boone said.

Domínguez, a natural center fielder, said he lost the ball at the end.

“I have no excuse. That ball has to be caught like 100% of the time,” he said.

Ryan Mountcastle followed with an RBI single. Henderson's two-run single with one out in the fourth chased Stroman from his first start since Sept. 10. He gave up 10 of Baltimore's 17 hits - 14 were singles - and was charged with six runs.

Anthony Santander and Cowser added consecutive RBI doubles later in the inning.

“Right away just really good at-bats from the first inning,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. "We had a lot of clutch hits, kept the line moving. Thought our at-bats all night were really good and you can never score enough here. We almost saw it. So it was a great night for us offensively.”

Stroman had been moved to the bullpen for the final two weeks of the season because the Yankees had six healthy starters before Cortes went down. The veteran right-hander threw 64 pitches for a three-inning save Sept. 17 in Seattle.

Handed an 8-1 lead, Orioles starter Zach Eflin walked a career-high five and was pulled after 4 2/3 innings. Jacob Webb (2-5) retired Jazz Chisholm Jr. with the bases loaded to end the fifth and worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

“It was a great win,” Eflin said. "Offense had my back.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: RHP Grayson Rodriguez will miss the postseason because of right lat discomfort.

Yankees: Cortes had been scheduled to start, but he was scratched and placed on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his pitching elbow. He and the Yankees are holding out hope he could return at some point in the postseason, but it didn’t sound likely.

UP NEXT

A matchup of Cy Young Award winners Thursday night, when Baltimore RHP Corbin Burnes (15-8, 2.95 ERA) faces Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67) to conclude the three-game series.

In his only previous start at Yankee Stadium, Burnes threw eight hitless innings for Milwaukee last September. The right-hander has a 1.08 ERA this month and will try to become the first Orioles pitcher to win 16 games in a season since Chris Tillman in 2016.

Cole went nine innings for the win last time out in Oakland, allowing one run and two hits with seven strikeouts.

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