NEW YORK —Aaron Judge won’t break the American League home run record at Yankee Stadium, remaining at 61 as New York headed on the road for its final four regular-season games after a 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
Judge struck out three times and walked once, disappointing a crowd of 44,332 that watched the Yankees’ regular-season home finale in rain for much of a chilly, blustery afternoon. New York finishes the regular season with four games at Texas, starting Monday night.
Judge took a called third strike from rookie Kyle Bradish leading off the first inning, then couldn’t check his swing and stranded the bases loaded when he struck out on a curveball in the second. He walked in the fifth and fanned against Bryan Baker in the seventh, dropping to 1 for 7 with six strikeouts, five walks and a hit batter since hitting No. 61 at Toronto on Wednesday night.
Trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012, Judge tops the AL with 130 RBI. His batting average fell to .311, four points behind league leader Luis Arraez of Minnesota.
Baltimore (82-77) guaranteed its first winning season since 2016. The Orioles went 52-110 last year and became the first team since at least 1900 to have a winning record one season after losing 110 or more.
AL East champion New York (97-61) took another hit to an injury-ravaged bullpen when Ron Marinaccio left while pitching to Jorge Mateo in the eighth. The Yankees will be without Clay Holmes until the playoffs because of rotator cuff inflammation, and Aroldis Chapman (3-4) was once again wild, walking three, including rookie Gunnar Henderson with the bases loaded, as Baltimore surged ahead in the seventh.
TIGERS 5, TWINS 2: Eric Haase and Victor Reyes homered and Detroit took advantage of visiting Minnesota’s sloppy play, beating touted pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson.
Woods Richardson made his big league debut five days after turning 22 years old, making him the youngest pitcher in the majors this season. The Twins’ defense did him no favors at the start, committing three errors in the first inning.
GUARDIANS 7, ROYALS 5: Shane Bieber allowed two runs over five innings in his final start before the postseason, Josh Naylor and rookie Will Brennan hit three-run homers and Cleveland defeated visiting Kansas City.
Bieber (13-8) is scheduled to start Game 1 of the wild-card series Friday for the AL Central champions. Cleveland has won 11 of 13 and is an MLB-best 22-5 since Sept. 5.
ASTROS 3, RAYS 1: Jeremy Pena hit an early two-run homer and drove in an insurance run late, lifting Houston over visiting Tampa Bay.
One pitch after Jose Altuve’s leadoff bunt single, Pena belted a cutter by Rays starter Corey Kluber (10-10) over the right-field fence and into the home bullpen.
That put the Astros ahead early, and Houston maintained that lead with strong pitching and key defensive plays, including Pena’s diving stop and throw to deny Ji-Man Choi in the fourth inning.
After homering only once in August, Houston’s rookie shortstop has five homers since September and is up to 21 for the season.
ANGELS 8, RANGERS 3: Mike Trout had his 39th homer among his three hits, and Los Angeles wrapped up its final homestand with its season-best seventh consecutive victory.
Shohei Ohtani extended the majors’ longest active hitting streak to 17 games with a first-inning single, equaling his 17-game streak for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2016.
ATHLETICS 10, MARINERS 3: Robbie Ray was tagged for home runs by Shea Langeliers, Cristian Pache and Nick Allen, and Seattle’s hopes of hosting the AL wild-card series took a serious blow with a home loss to Oakland.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
MARLINS 4, BREWERS 3: Miguel Rojas knocked in the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning to give Miami a win at Milwaukee, deflating Milwaukee’s playoff hopes in the race for the final National League wild-card spot.
Milwaukee is two games behind Philadelphia for the third NL wild card. The Phillies, who beat the Washington Nationals 8-1 in a rain-shortened game Sunday, hold the tiebreaker with the Brewers and both clubs have three games left.
CUBS 8, REDS 1: Willson Contreras got several standing ovations in what could be his final home game at Wrigley Field, Marcus Stroman threw six scoreless innings and surging Chicago beat Cincinnati for its seventh straight win.
The Reds have dropped six straight and 19 of 23. They’ll need to sweep a three-game series against the Cubs in Cincinnati to avoid the franchise’s second 100-loss season.
Contreras, a three-time All-Star who helped Chicago win a drought-busting World Series championship in 2016, has an expiring contract.
PHILLIES 8, NATIONALS 1: Philadelphia picked up another key victory as it tries to end an 11-year playoff drought, using three RBI apiece from Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott, plus Zack Wheeler’s five scoreless innings, to beat Washington in a rain-shortened game.
The six-inning win helped Philadelphia take 3 of 4 from the worst-in-the-majors Nationals to improve to 86-73 after getting to town on a five-game losing streak.
PIRATES 7, CARDINALS 5: Albert Pujols hit his 702nd career home run and tied Babe Ruth for second on the all-time RBI list, but visiting Pittsburgh won the game.
Ben Gamel and Bryan Reynolds homered for Pittsburgh, which has won 4 of 6. Chase DeJong (6-2) got the win for the Pirates.
Yadier Molina and Pujols, who will retire at the end of the season, were honored in a 46-minute ceremony prior to their last regular-season home game.
Pujols ripped a two-run double in the opening inning, and Molina brought him in with a fly to left for a 3-0 lead.
The 42-year-old Pujols followed with his 23rd home run of the season in the third inning, a 409-foot drive off Roansy Contreras that tied the game at 4. Pujols is fourth on the all-time home run list behind Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762).
He’s also tied with Ruth for second in RBI (2,214) behind Aaron (2,297).
ROCKIES 4, DODGERS 1: German Marquez gave up one hit over six innings to help visiting Colorado end a seven-game losing streak.
Brendan Rodgers hit a home run for the Rockies, who were victorious for just the second time since Sept. 19.
GIANTS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 3: Rookie David Villar hit a two-run, bases-loaded single with nobody out in the 10th inning to give San Francisco a win in a dramatic finish to the final game of the season at Oracle Park.
The win also kept alive the Giants’ hopes of a winning season, raising their record to 80-79 with three games remaining in San Diego.
INTERLEAGUE
WHITE SOX 2, PADRES 1: The San Diego Padres are going back to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2006, a spot they clinched during the seventh inning of a home loss to Chicago.
The Padres were batting when the Miami Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers in 12 innings. The sellout crowd of 41,407 at Petco Park stood and cheered the sealed wild-card spot.
The Padres trailed 2-0 at the time but Kim Ha-seong homered a few minutes later.
San Diego is one game ahead of Philadelphia for the second of three NL wild cards.
NOTES
MARINERS: Justin Hollander was promoted to general manager, making official many of the responsibilities he’s taken on over the past several years with the club.
The 44-year-old Hollander said discussions about the promotion picked up in the past couple of weeks when team Chairman John Stanton and President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto approached him about the idea.
Structurally, not much will change for the Mariners. Hollander and Dipoto had already split many of the duties over the past year when it came to dealing with the day-to-day needs of the front office.
But the title is recognition of the job Hollander has done and his value to the organization.
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