Aaron Judge homers for third straight game in Yankees’ loss

NEW YORK — With an autumnal chill in the air, Tuesday had all of the makings of a special evening at Yankee Stadium, the home team just one victory away from clinching the American League East.

Knicks star Josh Hart tossed a ceremonial first pitch, wearing pinstripes to honor his great-uncle, Yankees great Elston Howard. Bernie Williams strummed an electric guitar to perform the national anthem, and even John Sterling was back in the broadcast booth, freshly out of retirement for the postseason push.

Yes, Aaron Judge said he expected the atmosphere to be “rocking.” The captain did his part, belting his Major League-leading 56th home run, but a 5-3 loss to the Orioles ensured that the Yankees would have to wait at least one more day to pop any bottles.

“That’s step No. 1 for us,” Judge said. “Getting in the postseason is a big step, but we’re always out here trying to hunt a division. This is the toughest division in baseball. To be able to say that we’re division champs will be great, but we’ll talk about it more when we get there.”

Instead, it was the O’s who celebrated, spraying bubbly and beer in a plastic-wrapped visitors’ clubhouse to toast their official entry into the postseason. Baltimore’s win, combined with the Twins’ loss to Miami, assures the Orioles of at least an American League Wild Card.

“We wanted to come and get it done tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Credit to them; they held us down, and we just couldn’t play catchup quite enough.”

Judge’s fourth-inning blast off Dean Kremer marked his third consecutive game with a home run, the fifth time he has done so this season.

There were chants of “M-V-P!” heard as Judge rounded the bases, with the star putting the finishing touches on a season that sees him pacing the American League in numerous offensive categories – homers, RBIs (139), on-base percentage (.459), slugging percentage (.699), OPS (1.158), walks (130), extra-base hits (93) and total bases (383).

“It’s been all season; I don’t know what to say,” Judge said.

The Yankees have had only five single-season performances of more homers than Judge’s 56: Judge hit an AL-record 62 homers in 2022, surpassing Roger Maris’ mark of 61 homers in 1961. Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921.

But the Yanks could not muster more until the seventh, when Gleyber Torres knocked in Anthony Rizzo with a ground-rule double. Juan Soto followed with a run-scoring single to right field, but Torres was tagged out in a rundown as he scampered back toward third base, a play that short-circuited an opportunity to send Judge to the plate.

“I have to be more aggressive if I’m going to make that decision,” Torres said. “That’s going to be my mistake.”

Making his fourth start since being activated from the injured list, Clarke Schmidt was touched for three runs over 5 1/3 innings, including Anthony Santander’s 44th homer of the season, which clanged off the right-field foul pole on Schmidt’s 100th and final pitch.

Ramón Urías and Colton Cowser also went deep for the O’s, with Boone saying, “We just didn’t keep them in the yard.”

Schmidt has pitched to a 2.61 ERA across 20 2/3 innings this month, limiting opponents to eight runs (six earned). He has struck out 21 and walked six against 19 hits, and while it has yet to be decided how he will be used in the postseason, Schmidt said that he is ready to contribute as a starter or reliever.

“We have a very talented pitching staff,” Schmidt said. “I think just to be able to be on the roster and be able to wear this uniform in the playoffs is an honor to me. Whatever the role is, however I can help them win, whether it’s me or somebody else — when the postseason comes around, it’s all hands on deck.”

Having secured a postseason berth during their recent West Coast road trip to Seattle and Oakland, the Yankees can clinch the AL East with one more victory over Baltimore, owning a five-game lead in the division with five regular-season games remaining.

Before one of his at-bats, Judge told catcher Adley Rutschman that he expects the Yankees and Orioles to continue playing important games into October.

“You want to go against teams like that; you want to play the best,” Judge said. “I think it’s going to be back and forth the rest of this series. I was even talking with Rutschman at home [plate] that we’ll be seeing [them] later down the road. I look forward to it.”