Judge hits 58th HR as Yankees beat Orioles to clinch AL East

NEW YORK — Six months ago, the scenes that carried out Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, on the field and in the home clubhouse, would’ve qualified as unlikely.

Gerrit Cole not just healthy but peaking at the right time six months removed from being shut down with an elbow injury. Giancarlo Stanton not just on the field but smashing baseballs in a game that mattered again six months removed from facing questions coming off the worst season of his career. The two together fueling the New York Yankees’ division-clinching 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

But it happened Thursday night as the Yankees toppled the Orioles, the reigning division champions and preseason favorites, to finish off a climb to the American League East summit the franchise expects to complete every season after not reaching the playoffs in 2023.

The Yankees, at 93-66, sit one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the American League and homefield advantage until the World Series. They finish the regular season with a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates starting Friday.

“This is a special night,” Cole said as a rowdy celebration continued around him. “This is what you want as a player. The division’s sitting right there for the taking. You gotta go out there and get it.”

Cole went out and snatched it with another dominant outing. Coming off a nine-inning gem against the Oakland Athletics, the right-hander outdueled Orioles ace Corbin Burnes by giving up two hits over 6 ⅔ scoreless innings in his 17th and final start of the regular season. He had five strikeouts to one walk and threw 95 pitches.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner finished the season 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA across 95 innings after making his season debut June 19 and not landing on the injured list again. He will next take the mound for Game 1 of the AL Division Series against a team to be determined on Oct. 5 with a full tank.

“I expect to be throwing 110 [pitches] next week,” Cole said.

Stanton, meanwhile, was vintage Stanton. The slugger opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning off Burnes, who allowed just one other hit and struck out nine over five innings. Two at-bats later, Stanton crushed a 116.4-mph three-run double as the Yankees blew open the game with a six-run sixth inning.

Aaron Judge padded the lead in the seventh inning with his 58th home run of the year, a two-run moonshot that carried into the Orioles’ bullpen beyond the left-center field wall.

With it, Judge became the fourth player in major-league history with at least 58 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. He has homered in five straight games, matching a career high.

“I didn’t realize that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when informed of Judge’s streak. “That’s the take-it-for-granted part.”

Stanton’s home run was his 27th of the season. He’s batting .235 with a .781 OPS in 112 games. Those aren’t prime Stanton numbers — he once hit 59 home runs in a season — but they’re lightyears better than a dreadful 2023 season in which he batted .191 with a .695 OPS and at times had trouble just running the bases.

The struggles motivated Stanton to lose muscle mass and focus on his mobility over the offseason. The work paid dividends in helping the Yankees win their 21st division title since divisional play began in 1969.

Next week, the attention turns to ending the franchise’s 15-year championship drought with World Series title No. 28.

“You can’t take this for granted at all,” Stanton said. “It’s expected, for sure, but times like last year, they happen, so you gotta appreciate it. We’re here now, enjoy it, you never know if you ever get a chance again, so you gotta go.”