Aaron Judge makes history, but the New York Yankees can’t win the AL East title

CNN
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The New York Yankees failed to secure the American League (AL) East title for the second year in a row on Wednesday, despite a historic 142nd RBI from Aaron Judge in a 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles trailed 3-0 after the first inning, but they never seemed to be in trouble until the bottom of the ninth, when the Yankees began to fight back. Juan Soto singled Anthony Rizzo home to put the game 9-4 Baltimore before Judge hit a three-run home run – his 57th of the season, which is tied for the MLB lead – to cut Baltimore’s lead to two runs.

The Orioles then changed their pitcher, bringing in Keegan Akin for Matt Bowman and ending the game to seal the victory over their division rivals.

Despite the loss, Judge has now hit a home run in four consecutive games, moving up to 142 RBIs this season and becoming the first player to hit 140+ runs in a season since 2009 (when Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard each hit 141). According to MLB statistics, the previous longest stretch between 140+ RBI seasons was five years, since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920.

After nearly overcoming a big deficit, Judge focused on the team’s performance in a postgame interview. “The team didn’t give up until the end,” the 2022 AL MVP said, according to AP. “I never feel like we’re out of a game, no matter what the score is.”

In a disastrous first inning for the Yanks, reliever Marcus Stroman allowed six consecutive singles to start the game, the first time Baltimore has accomplished this feat since 1969.

The Orioles had scored three runs in the first inning and Anthony Volpe’s RBI single in the second inning reduced the gap to 3-1.

But in a difficult fourth inning for New York, Baltimore was able to extend its lead again when Gunnar Henderson’s two-RBI single drew more boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd and marked the end of Stroman’s night on the mound.

Clayton Beeter didn’t fare any better. He allowed RBI doubles from Anthony Santander and Colton Cowser in the fourth inning and an RBI single from James McCann in the fifth inning to make it 8-1.

Juan Soto hit back with a two-run shot – his 41st home run of the year – to make it 8-3 in the fifth inning before Jordan Westburg’s RBI single in the eighth inning gave Baltimore enough of a lead to end the game.

After securing their seventh playoff berth in eight seasons last week, the Yankees must now win at least one of their four remaining games to clinch the division title.

“Nothing has been easy for us this year. And you shouldn’t expect it to be. But we somehow persevered and somehow fought through,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, according to AP. “We’ll be ready tomorrow.”