Yankees' Judge hits 62nd homer to set AL record in Texas

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Yankees slugger Aaron Judge led off the nightcap with his American League-record 62nd home run and Gerrit Cole set the franchise single-season strikeouts record even as New York lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night for a doubleheader split. Leody Taveras hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning of the second game to put the Rangers ahead to stay, after their 5-4 loss in the opener had extended their losing streak to seven games. The AL East champion Yankees have won 99 games, the Rangers 67. Judge drove the third pitch of second game, a 1-1 slider from Rangers opener Jesus Tinoco, into the first row of seats in left field to end his long, tiring chase to break Roger Maris’ AL mark that had stood since 1961. It was the 55th game in a row Judge had played since Aug. 5, and the only homer he had hit in the previous 13 games was No. 61 last Wednesday in Toronto. He went 1 for 5 with a single and scored the decisive run in the opener Tuesday. Cole (13-8) struck out nine, raising his major league-best total to 257. The right-hander had entered the game tied with the 248 strikeouts Ron Guidry had in 1978, when he was the AL Cy Young Award winner after going 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA. Cole passed Guidry when he struck out Rangers No. 2 batter Nathaniel Lowe in the first inning. BRAVES 2, MARLINS 1 MIAMI (AP) – William Contreras drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in the fifth, Atlanta clinched its fifth consecutive NL East title by beating Miami. Atlanta earned a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed in the NL, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves were 10 1/2 games behind the New York Mets at the start of June and lost four of five to New York in early August. After sweeping the Mets over the weekend to take the division lead, Atlanta entered the series needing a win or a Mets loss to clinch the division crown. Starter Jake Odorizzi (6-6) pitched five innings, struck out six, allowed two hits, and one home run to Jesús Sánchez in the fourth. Kenley Jansen recorded his 41st save, working a perfect ninth. Miami starter Braxton Garrett (3-7) was pulled in the fifth after Contreras’ two-out grounder to third scored Travis d’Arnaud and allowed Atlanta to retake the lead. Contreras had two hits and an RBI. ASTROS 10, PHILLIES 0 HOUSTON (AP) — Justin Verlander capped his magnificent comeback season by striking out 10 without allowing a hit in five innings, and Houston’s bullpen kept Philadelphia hitless until the ninth inning. Verlander, who has pitched three no-hitters in his career, walked one before being pulled after 77 pitches. The AL West champion Astros led the NL wild-card Phillies 8-0 at the point. Rookie Hunter Brown pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings and Hector Neris got the last two outs of the eighth inning. Will Smith came on for the ninth and Garrett Stubbs singled to center field to break up the no-hitter bid. Jeremy Peña, Kyle Tucker and Martín Maldonado homered as the Astros jumped on Ranger Suárez (10-7) for six runs in two innings to build a huge lead early in their 1,000th win at Minute Maid Park, which opened in 2000. Verlander (18-4) collected his American League-leading 18th win, and his MLB-leading 1.75 ERA is the lowest for a qualified pitcher in the AL, excluding the pandemic-shortened season, since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA in 2000. METS 4, NATIONALS 2, 1st GAME METS 8, NATIONALS 0, 2nd GAME NEW YORK (AP) – New York was eliminated from the NL East race even as Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeill opened with three straight homers to spark the Mets to a sweep of a doubleheader. The Braves were batting in the sixth with a 2-1 lead in Miami when the Mets started the second game with three straight homers for the first time in team history.