NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge didn’t come close to hitting his 62nd home run, going 1 for 2 with a pair of walks as the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night.
One game after tying the American League home run record that Yankees star Roger Maris set in 1961, Judge struck out in the first inning, singled in the third and walked in the sixth against Jordan Lyles, then was intentionally walked in the eighth by rookie Félix Bautista.
Judge has six games left: two this weekend against the Orioles and then four at Texas that end the regular season.
Yankees reliever Zack Britton appeared to get hurt as he threw a tiebreaking wild pitch in the sixth inning, and the Orioles (81-76) managed to stay alive in their long shot bid to gain an AL wild-card berth. The Yankees said Britton, who returned last week from Tommy John surgery, had left arm fatigue.
A sellout crowd of 47,583 filled Yankee Stadium on an autumn night with a chill in the air. The crowd buzzed each time Judge walked to the plate and fans appeared to make an effort not to come to a complete quiet with every pitch to the slugger, as they did during last week’s homestand.
Judge is bidding for the first Triple Crown since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He leads the AL with 130 RBIs and narrowly trails Minnesota’s Luis Arraez in the batting race, .3147 to .3141.
Baltimore assured it will stop a streak of four consecutive losing seasons and must win its remaining five games and get some help from Seattle and Tampa Bay in order to reach the playoffs. After going 52-110, the Orioles could become the first team since at least 1900 with a winning record one year after losing 110 or more.
Ryan Mountcastle singled in a run in the first for his 84th RBI. Oswaldo Cabrera tied the score in the fifth…