Aaron Judge goes homerless again, but Yankees clinch first AL East title since 2019

TORONTO — Aaron Judge again failed to kick down the door on history Tuesday night, staying put at 60 homers.

But anyone around the Yankees will tell you that mattered little to him.

It certainly didn't matter on a night when the Yankees clinched their first AL East title since 2019, along with the No. 2 seed in the upcoming American League playoffs, with a 5-2 victory over the Blue Jays in front of 40,528 at Rogers Centre.

Judge, pitched to with extreme caution, stayed disciplined in not chasing out of the zone. He went to a full count in all five of his plate appearances and was 0-for-1 with a lineout to third, four walks and two runs.

Did the walks frustrate him? “Not when you win,” a prosecco and beer-soaked Judge said in the Yankees' jubilant clubhouse. "I’ll take four walks for a win every single day.”

Judge has a remarkable 27 walks in 23 games in the month of September. Since hitting his 60th homer last Tuesday, he has gone 5-for-19 with 12 walks in seven games.

At .3139, Judge leads the American League in batting average over Minnesota's Luis Arraez (.3125) and Boston's Xander Bogaerts (.3104) as he attempts to win the Triple Crown. 

Though Judge’s attempt to tie  Roger Maris’ AL record of 61 homers has  dominated headlines the last week, the number mattering most to the outfielder — and the Yankees — is the pursuit of franchise title No. 28.

And the Yankees (95-59), winners of 16 of their last 21 games, took a not insignificant step in that direction Tuesday by securing home-field advantage for the Division Series round. If the Astros get upset in their Division Series, the Yankees would have home field for the American League Championship Series.

“I like this team. This is a special group,” Judge said. “We went out there and played in the toughest division in baseball . . .and to win our division, I like our chances, that’s for sure.”

He added: “I’ll be a little happier maybe at the end of October. But this is a big moment, especially for a lot of guys in this room that haven’t had a chance to clinch the division, go to the postseason. Getting to a chance to celebrate with them, it’s going to be fun tonight.”

Gleyber Torres led the way Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, which improved him to  25-for-60 in his last 15 games. Kyle Higashioka  had three hits and two runs and Anthony Rizzo and Oswaldo Cabrera each had two hits.

Jameson Taillon turned in one of his best outings of the season, allowing two runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings in improving to 14-5, 3.83. He didn't allow a walk and struck out six, retiring 16 of the next 17 batters after allowing a 431-foot home run to centerfield by George Springer on his second pitch of the game. 

“Another big outing by him,” Aaron Boone said.

After taking over for Taillon with runners on first and second and one out in the eighth, Lou Trivino needed only one pitch to get Springer to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.  He finished off Toronto in the ninth for his first save as a Yankee.

 The Yankees were a season-high 38 games over .500 at 61-23 on July 8 and owned a 15 1/2-game lead over the second-place Rays. Beset by injuries, they then went 18-31, and after losing to the Rays on Sept. 9, they led Tampa Bay by only 3 1/2 games, two in the loss column. But they then blew out the Rays twice to get themselves back on track.

The feeling of panic by a good portion of the fan base never made its way into the clubhouse, Boone said.

“We can say we’re the best team in the best division this year, and it wasn’t easy,” he said. “We all know that. Everyone in that room knows that. We took everyone’s punches. We had some low moments, but tonight is to be celebrated. It’s not easy [to go] through the American League East and survive.”