Yankees Maintain Share Of AL East Lead As Judge, Schlittler Spark 6-1 Win Over Orioles

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Ryan McMahon hit early home runs off Tomoyuki Sugano, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 on Saturday to maintain a share of the AL East lead heading into the regular season’s final day.

New York (93-68) has won seven straight and 10 of 11, and is assured of at least a wild card. The Yankees are tied with Toronto, which holds the tiebreaker.

Cam Schlittler (4-3) struck out a career-high nine in seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball. The 24-year-old rookie right-hander had a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts.

New York’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. left after he was hit on the left arm by a 96.8 mph pitch from Grant Wolfram in the fifth. The Yankees said X-rays were negative and he will have a CT scan.

Judge put the Yankees ahead with his big league record 20th first-inning home run this season, his 53rd long ball this year. Judge hit the Yankees’ 49th first-inning homer, two more than the previous mark set by Atlanta in 2023.

Stanton and McMahon went deep in the second for a 3-0 lead. Stanton has 453 career homers, moving past Carl Yastrzemski for sole possession of 40th place.

Judge and Stanton have homered in the same game 59 times, with the Yankees winning 52.

A 35-year-old right-hander signed to a $13 million, one-year contract, Sugano (10-10) had a 4.64 ERA in 30 starts. He allowed 33 homers, behind only Jake Irvin and Zack Littell, who entered Saturday with 36 each.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for the seventh time this season, most among big league managers, and the 46th time in his managing career. He was tossed for arguing called strikes to Judge.