NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees were on track to finish one win shy of repeating as AL East champion and lose to Toronto on a tiebreaker despite beating the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 Sunday behind a pair of Ben Rice home runs for a season-ending eight-game winning streak.
Toronto led Tampa Bay 13-4 in the eighth inning when the Yankees’ game ended. With a victory, the Blue Jays and Yankees would both finish 94-68 and Toronto would win the AL East on a tiebreaker because of its 8-5 advantage in the season series.
New York was on track to host Boston in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, with the winner advancing to a Division Series next weekend.
Aaron Judge went 1 for 4 and won his first batting title, leading the major leagues at .331.. He had 53 homers and 114 RBIs.
Rice homered in the first against Kyle Bradish but Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson hit back-to-back homers in the fourth off Luis Gil for 2-1 lead.
Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI single tied the score in the bottom half and Rice hit an opposite-field drive to left in the eighth off Rico Garcia (0-2).
Devin Williams (4-2) pitched a one-hit eighth and David Bednar finished for his 27th save in 30 chances.
New York started 35-20, slumped during a 25-34 stretch, then closed 34-14.
Baltimore went 75-87, winning 16 fewer games than last year, after firing manager Brandon Hyde in May.
New York’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh and took over at second base, a day after he was hit on the left forearm by a 96.8 mph pitch.
Rice hit the Yankees’ 50th first-inning home run, three more than the previous big league record set by Atlanta in 2023.
Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, allowed two runs in five innings and finished 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts. He made his season debut Aug. 3 after recovering from a right lat strain.
Key stat
The Yankees drew 3,392,659 for 80 home dates.
Key moment
Rice had his third career multihomer game.
Up next
Yankees LHP Max Fried (19-5, 2.86 ERA) and Red Sox LHP Garret Crochet (18-4, 2.59) would start the Wild Card Series opener Tuesday.
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