Yankees clinch AL East as Aaron Judge hits 58th home run, Gerrit Cole allows two hits in win over Orioles

After a two-day wait – and the way the games went, it seemed longer than that – the Yankees are champions of the AL East.

Returning to the Bronx late Sunday night from the West Coast with a six-game division lead over the Orioles with six to play, the Yankees dropped the first two games of their series against Baltimore, keeping their magic number at one.

With Gerrit Cole terrific over 6 2/3 scoreless innings and the Yankees taking advantage of a dreadful Orioles bullpen – which included, naturally, Aaron Judge hitting his 58th homer – they clinched their second East title in three years with a 10-1 victory in front of 42,022 on Thursday night at the Stadium.

The Yankees (93-66), who have three games left in the regular season (against the Pirates), won’t match the 99 wins from 2022 when they last won the division, but do have something to play for: homefield advantage throughout the AL playoffs. The Yankees came into the day percentage points ahead of the Guardians (idle on Thursday) for the league’s best record.

Cole, meanwhile, made it two straight superb outings to end his regular season. The righthander, coming off a nine-inning effort in Oakland in which he allowed a run and two hits, allowed two hits and one walk Thursday. Cole, in finishing the season 8-5, 3.41 and whose next start will be in Game 1 of the Division Series, struck out five, allowing the Orioles (88-71) exactly one runner in scoring position.

Cole doffed his cap to the roaring crowd as he came off the mound with two outs in the seventh, replaced by Tommy Kahnle.

The Yankees had a relatively quiet night against Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, with Giancarlo Stanton’s 27th homer, a solo shot in the second, the only damage done against the righthander. But Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, mindful of not overextending his best pitcher before the wild-card round, pulled Burnes after five innings (69 pitches) and nine strikeouts.

The Yankees promptly sent 10 to the plate in a five-run sixth against righty Yennier Cano, lefty Cionel Perez and righty Bryan Baker. The highlights were Stanton’s bases-clearing double against Perez and Anthony Rizzo’s two-run single off Baker, which made it 7-0.

Judge’s two-run homer in the seventh off Baker, a moonshot to left that departed his bat at 110.9 mph, made it five straight games in which he homered and gave him seven home runs in his last 12 games.

Alex Verdugo’s 13th homer, a solo shot in the eighth, made it 10-0.

After Cole retired the side in order on 13 pitches in the top of the first, Burnes mowed through Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto and Judge in a 14-pitch bottom half, striking out each of the trio swinging at cutters.

Cole struck out Colton Cowser swinging at a 94-mph fastball to start a 1-2-3, 11-pitch bottom half, and the next time he took the mound he had a lead, courtesy of Stanton.

After the slumping Austin Wells grounded to first, Stanton fell behind 0-and-1 before hammering a slider 377 feet to left-center.

There was a momentary injury scare for the Yankees leading off the third.

With Ramon Urias up, Cole threw a 3-2 slider the third baseman fouled directly off the right kneecap of Wells, causing a delay of a little over a minute as the catcher was evaluated by Boone and a trainer. Wells stayed in and Cole got Urias to ground to short, then struck out Cedric Mullins swinging at a 97-mph fastball. James McCann, the No. 9 hitter, walked to give the Orioles their first base runner of the night, but Cole got leadoff man Gunnar Henderson to pop to third.

Cole retired the first two batters of the fifth before the Orioles got their first hit, a sharp single to right by Urias. Mullins worked the count full in a 10-pitch at-bat, finally grounding to first for the third out.

Thrilled to see anyone in the game but Burnes, the Yankees, predictably, opened things up in the sixth. Cano struck out Volpe to start the inning but walked Torres, allowed a single to Soto and walked Judge on five pitches to load the bases.

In came Perez to face the left-handed hitting Wells, who walked to bring in Torres to make it 2-0. Stanton, swinging at a first-pitch, 96-mph sinker, lasered one into the gap in right-center, clearing the bases for a 5-0 lead.