BALTIMORE (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 37th home run, fellow All-Star Nestor Cortes pitched six sharp innings and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-0 on Sunday.
Jose Trevino, another Yankees All-Star, had the first four-hit game of his career. New York, with the best record in the big leagues, took two of three and has won 22 of 32 series this year.
“It’s always big to win a series,” Yankees manager Aaron Judge said. “You don’t take that for granted whether you’re in a hot streak like we’ve been at times this year or you’re struggling a little bit. Series wins are not to be taken lightly.”
Judge has seven home runs in his last nine games and leads the majors with 81 RBIs. He also raised his batting average to .294, which has been a key area of focus.
“I saw a lot of the greats — Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera — they always hit above .300 and the power just came with it,” Judge said. “That’s always been a goal of mine to hit above .300 and we’ll keep working towards it.”
Cortes (8-3) allowed six hits, struck out seven and walked none while lowering his ERA from 2.63 to 2.48. The 27-year-old lefty began his MLB career with the Orioles in 2018. He has gone 2-0 with a 0.46 in four appearances (three starts) against Baltimore at Oriole Park in his career.
“I go out there every fifth day like I do against any other team but for some reason, I have more success against the Orioles,” Cortes said. “It feels good to do that.”
Clarke Schmidt pitched three innings and earned his first career save.
New York scored three times in the third on a double by DJ LeMahieu and a two-run drive by Judge off Dean Kremer (3-2). Judge has nine homers in his last 12 games against Baltimore and 36 over his…