Yanks clinch AL East as Judge stalls; Cards claim NL Central

Aaron Judge walked four times and stayed at 60 home runs, one shy of Roger Maris’ American League record, as the New York Yankees clinched the AL East title by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 Tuesday night. The Yankees celebrated their 20th division championship, tied for second-most with the Dodgers behind Atlanta’s 21, but not home run history. New York (95-59) secured a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the Division Series. Judge lined out in his first at-bat and then drew four straight walks in his seventh straight game without a home run. The Yankees have eight games left in the regular season for Judge to tie or break the AL mark set by Maris in 1961. Despite the loss, Toronto (87-68) maintained its place atop the AL wild-card standings. Gleyber Torres had three hits and drove in three runs to back Jameson Taillon (14-5), who pitched 7 1/3 sharp innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He’s 4-0 in five career starts in Toronto. José Berríos (11-7) allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings, losing his second straight outing after a six-start unbeaten streak. His ERA rose to 5.37. Berríos reached 1,000 career strikeouts. CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 2 MILWAUKEE (AP) – Paul Goldschmidt and St. Louis clinched the NL Central title by beating Milwaukee behind six strong innings from Miles Mikolas. Andrew Knizner hit a two-run homer and Goldschmidt added two RBIs as St. Louis sealed its first division crown since 2019 and fourth straight playoff berth by defeating the team that won last year’s NL Central championship. The Cardinals (90-65) guaranteed themselves at least a tie with second-place Milwaukee (82-72), and they now own the tiebreaker because the victory Tuesday gave St. Louis an insurmountable 10-8 lead in the season series. The Brewers remain 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia for the final NL wild card. The Phillies won the season series with Milwaukee and would get the playoff bid if the two teams end up tied. This clincher didn’t feature much suspense as St. Louis scored the first six runs. Mikolas (12-13) struck out nine and allowed only four hits and one walk. The Brewers’ lone run off him came in the sixth when Rowdy Tellez hit his 34th homer. BRAVES 8, NATIONALS 2 WASHINGTON (AP) – Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a pair of solo home runs and Atlanta beat Washington, extending its winning streak to four games and moving into a first-place tie in the NL East with the New York Mets. Orlando Arcia also homered and Michael Harris II had a two-run triple for the Braves, who caught the Mets when they lost 6-4 at home to Miami. Both teams have seven games remaining, including a head-to-head three-game series beginning Friday in Atlanta. With the win, the Braves (97-58) are guaranteed the No. 2 playoff seed in the National League if they finish ahead of the Mets. Victor Robles homered and Luke Voit had two doubles for the last-place Nationals (53-101). Collin McHugh (3-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Paolo Espino (0-8) retired the first 10 Braves batters before giving up four runs and five hits. MARLINS 6, METS 4 NEW YORK (AP) – Carlos Carrasco had another short start, lasting just three innings as New York fell into a first-place tie in the NL East with a loss to Miami. The Marlins closed out the Mets not long after Atlanta completed an 8-2 victory over Washington. The Mets and Braves are both 97-58 with seven games left. The teams are scheduled to play a three-game series this weekend in Atlanta, though the path of Hurricane Ian could force a postponement or relocation.