As far as closing arguments go, Aaron Judge is certainly making a convincing one.
Whether the Yankees will be able to do the same remains to be seen, still seeking an 11th-hour injunction to stop the Blue Jays from winning the division.
Judge did his part while padding his AL MVP case and all but clinching the batting title, clubbing his 53rd home run and driving in three runs on the way to the Yankees’ seventh straight win, 6-1 over the Orioles on Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.
Once the final out was recorded, the Yankees (93-68) turned their attention back to the scoreboard, where they still needed help from the Rays in beating the Blue Jays to break a tie atop the AL East. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker over the Yankees, meaning the Yankees must finish the regular season a game ahead to secure a second straight division title and a bye into the ALDS.
In the meantime, the Yankees were left holding their breath over Jazz Chisholm Jr., who exited the game in the fifth inning after getting hit on the left forearm with a 97 mph sinker from Grant Wolfram. Initial X-rays were negative, but he was also set to undergo a CT scan after being evaluated at the stadium by team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad.
Judge finished the day batting .331 — which will almost certainly earn him the batting title — to go with a 1.149 OPS, numbers that dwarf the competition. He will become only the third player in MLB history to hit 50-plus home runs while winning the batting title. The only thing standing between Judge and a third MVP is Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who had hit 60 homers entering Saturday.
The Yankees also got another splendid start from Cam Schlittler, who put the finishing touches on his own push to be the club’s third starter in the postseason behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodón. The rookie right-hander tossed a career-high seven shutout innings, striking out a career-high nine while allowing just two hits, walking one and hitting two batters. He will be on regular rest to start Game 3 of a potential wild-card series on Thursday, if needed, or an ALDS game should the Yankees get there.
Judge gave Schlittler some early run support by blasting a home run in the bottom of the first inning off Tomoyuki Sugano, his fourth in his last four games and 10th in his last 18 games. He is now 7-for-9 with three home runs in his career against the Orioles right-hander.
Giancarlo Stanton added a solo blast of his own in the second inning — marking the second straight game in which both he and Judge have homered and the 59th all-time, with the Yankees now 52-7 in those games.
Ryan McMahon also went deep before the frame was over to stake the Yankees out to a 3-0 lead.
After Aaron Boone was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing two inside pitches that were called strikes against Judge — leading to a rousing ovation from the sellout crowd of 46,085 — the captain delivered a two-run single to make it a 5-0 game.
Cody Bellinger also added a sacrifice fly before the rally was over.
The Orioles’ only run of the day came on Coby Mayo’s home run off Paul Blackburn to lead off the eighth inning.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
