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 Thursday night in front of 42,022 at the Stadium.

“It took us long enough,” Judge, who homered for a fifth straight game, said with a smile in the middle of a loud clubhouse celebration — though not as raucous as last week’s celebration in Seattle when the Yankees clinched a playoff berth — that included the requisite spraying of champagne and beer. “We dropped the first two against a good team, but we had our ace on the mound. He took care of business for us and the offense did the rest.”

The Yankees (93-66), who have three games left in the regular season (against the Pirates), won’t reach 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 have a one-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the best record.

It has been a drastic turnaround from last year’s 82-80 nightmare that caused embarrassment throughout most of the organization, including, obviously, in the clubhouse.

“You can’t take this for granted at all,” said Giancarlo Stanton, whose 27th homer of the season, a solo shot in the second, got the Yankees on the board and whose bases-clearing double in a six-run sixth made it 5-0. “It’s expected [the Yankees making the playoffs], but last year it didn’t happen. We’ve got to appreciate it. We’re here now. Enjoy it.

“You never know if you’ll ever get a chance at it again, so it’s time to go.”

Said Cole: “Last year was a humbling experience. It reminds you that the game’s really hard, and this season was hard for us as well, even though we clinched with a few games to go. But we weathered the ups and downs and we put ourselves in a good position to play good ball here going forward.”

Cole 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 with a 3.41 ERA 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.

“It was a special night,” Cole said. “This is what you want as a player. The division’s right there for the taking — you’ve got to go out there and get it.”

The Yankees had a relatively quiet night against Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, with Stanton’s homer 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 the sixth against righty Yennier Cano, lefty Cionel Perez and righty Bryan Baker. The inning’s Yankees’ highlights were Stanton’s double 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, 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.

“Hopefully, we can do this a few more times,” Aaron Boone, in his seventh season as manager, said afterward, wearing a pullover thoroughly soaked from the postgame clubhouse celebration. “I trust our guys. I think they’re tough. I think they’re mentally tough. A lot of them are really battle-tested. We’ve been through a lot . . . I feel like if we play our best baseball, we’re as good or better than anyone. We’re excited to take our shot.”