Yankees squander second chance and secure AL East by losing to Orioles

Barring a surprise collapse, the Yankees will likely win the AL East sometime during the final four days of the regular season.

But on the way there was an ugly pit stop on Wednesday.

The bad news began hours before the first pitch when Nestor Cortes was removed from the roster and placed on the injured list due to a strain in his left elbow flexor that jeopardized his ability to play in the playoffs.

Then his backup Marcus Stroman allowed six straight singles to start the game – including a crucial defensive error by left fielder Jasson Dominguez – and things didn't get much better from there, as the Yankees squandered their second consecutive chance to win the division, losing 9-7 to the Orioles in front of 41,010 excited fans in the Bronx.

“Nothing has been easy for us this year,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Don't expect it to be. But we've persevered and fought through it. … We'll be ready (on Thursday).”

The Yankees (92-66) trailed 9-3 at the start of the ninth inning, but then caught up and made things exciting, including a three-run shot by Aaron Judge, his 57th home run of the year.

But the champagne stayed cold for the second night in a row, as the Yankees' magic number to win the division remained at one while the Orioles (88-70) fell back to four games behind with four games left.

The Yankees, whose magic number to secure the best AL record also remains at three (and who are now just a half-game ahead of the Guardians), will send Gerrit Cole to the mound on Thursday to fight Corbin Burnes in a duel of aces and prevent the sweep.

“They're all tough,” said Judge, who hit a home run for his fourth straight game to become the first player since 2009 to have 142 RBIs in a season. “We're playing against a great team that has battled with us all year, so it's never going to be easy, whether the magic number is one or five. We're going to keep battling, do our thing and get it done (on Thursday).”

The Orioles gave Stroman 10 hits – all singles – and six runs in 3 ¹/₃ innings in his first start since Sept. 10, after he had since been moved to the bullpen.

Not all of the singles were bullseyes—a handful of them were well-placed grounders—but they still counted on a tough night for Stroman.

Juan Soto hit a two-run homer against Zach Eflin in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 8-3. When the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs, they threatened to get back into the game.

But Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a flyout on the first pitch he saw from new reliever Jacob Webb, knocking all the air out of the building.

The Orioles had all bases loaded with no outs at the start of the first inning when Colton Cowser hit a fly ball down the left field line that should have been the first out.

But as Dominguez chased the ball toward the corner, he ran over it and it fell right behind him, resulting in a two-run single.

The only consolation in this game was that the Yankees threw out Santander at third base.

“The ball always has to be caught,” said Dominguez, who was shaky in left field as the Yankees try to figure out whether he or Alex Verdugo will start there in the playoffs.

The Orioles increased their lead to 3-0 before the end of the first inning and then hit Stroman again in the fourth inning when they threw him out of the game.

Gunnar Henderson's two-run single made the game 5-1 as Stroman left the mound to scattered boos from the crowd.

“It's frustrating, but at the end of the day I didn't do my job to get my team the win,” Stroman said.

Eflin gave the Yankees a chance to get back in the game early by allowing five walks in 4 ²/₃ innings.

However, they were unable to capitalize on their advantage, and their ninth-inning comeback came too late and was too weak. The wait kept them in the division.

“At the end of the day, (the Orioles) play good baseball,” Soto said. “I bet everyone in that locker room wants to win, but that's just part of it.”