NEW YORK — Aaron Judge didn’t come close to hitting his 62nd home run, going 1 for 2 with a pair of walks as the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night.

One game after tying the American League home run record that Yankees star Roger Maris set in 1961, Judge struck out in the first inning, singled in the third and walked in the sixth against Jordan Lyles, then was intentionally walked in the eighth by rookie Félix Bautista.

Judge has six games left: two this weekend against the Orioles and then four at Texas that end the regular season.

Yankees reliever Zack Britton appeared to get hurt as he threw a tiebreaking wild pitch in the sixth inning, and the Orioles (81-76) managed to stay alive in their long shot bid to gain an AL wild-card berth. The Yankees said Britton, who returned last week from Tommy John surgery, had left arm fatigue.

A sellout crowd of 47,583 filled Yankee Stadium on an autumn night with a chill in the air. The crowd buzzed each time Judge walked to the plate and fans appeared to make an effort not to come to a compete quiet with every pitch to the slugger, as they did during last week’s homestand.

Judge is bidding for the first Triple Crown since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He leads the AL with 130 RBI and narrowly trails Minnesota’s Luis Arraez in the batting race, .3147 to .3141.

Baltimore assured it will stop a streak of four consecutive losing seasons and must win its remaining five games and get some help from Seattle and Tampa Bay in order to reach the playoffs. After going 52-110, the Orioles could become the first team since at least 1900 with a winning record one year after losing 110 or more.

Ryan Mountcastle singled in a run in the first for his 84th RBI. Oswaldo Cabrera tied the score in the fifth for the AL East champion Yankees with his fifth home run since his debut on Aug. 17.

Jordan Lyles (12-11) matched his career high for wins in 2019, four hits in seven-plus innings. He tied his season high with nine strikeouts and walked one.

Domingo Germán (2-4) walked his first two batters in the sixth and retired Mountcastle on a groundout, Britton relieved and walked Gunnar Henderson and hen threw a pitch to pinch-hitter Jesús Aguilar that went to the backstop, and he failed to cover the plate. Britton was replaced by Ron Marinaccio. Under baseball’s rules, a pitcher must face three batters or complete a half-inning, but he can be replaced earlier if hurt.

Rookie DL Hall pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his first save since 2019 at Class A.

GUARDIANS 6, ROYALS 3: José Ramírez hit a three-run homer and Emmanuel Clase closed for his major league-leading 40th save as Cleveland won at home.

Ramírez put AL Central champion Cleveland ahead for good at 4-3 in the sixth inning with his 29th home run of the season. The 404-foot blast to right off Brady Singer (10-5) gave the All-Star third baseman 121 RBI – second in the AL behind New York’s Aaron Judge.

Austin Hedges followed with an RBI single, snapping an 0-for-36 slump, and Myles Straw drove in Will Brennan to make it 6-3. Kansas City took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

Cleveland has won 10 of 11 and is a major league-best 21-4 since Sept. 5. The Royals dropped their fourth in a row as the teams opened a six-game series to end the regular season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

BRAVES 5, METS 2: Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit back-to-back homers off Jacob deGrom in the second inning and Dansby Swanson later connected off the Mets ace as Atlanta at home to move into a tie for the NL East lead.

The defending World Series champion Braves soaked in the raucous atmosphere at sold-out Truist Park as they seek to keep the Mets from winning one game in the three-game series and earn the tiebreaker between the two teams. Atlanta, going for its fifth straight NL East title, has won eight of the 17 games in the season series.

PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 1: Rhys Hoskins hit his 30th home run, Bailey Falter pitched six scoreless innings and Philadelphia boosted its lead in the National League wild-card race with a win in Washington in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

Philadelphia (84-72) snapped a five-game losing streak and moved a full game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the final NL wild card.

J.T. Realmuto had two hits and stole three bases, giving him 21 steals and 21 home runs. He is the second 20-20 catcher in major league history after Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers in 1999 (35 homers, 25 stolen bases).

CUBS 6, REDS 1: Adrian Sampson threw seven efficient innings, Nico Hoerner drove in three runs and host Chicago won its fifth straight, over Cincinnati.

Sampson (4-5) gave up one run on three hits, struck out six and walked two in his 97-pitch outing. He matched his longest start of the season and extended his streak of allowing one run or fewer to five consecutive starts.

Sampson finished his day by getting Mike Siani to ground into a double play, stranding a runner at third.

NOTES

BRAVES: Atlanta reached a deal with starting pitcher Charlie Morton on a $20 million, one-year contract for 2023 with a $20 million club option for 2024 that does not include a buyout.

Morton, 38, is 9-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 30 starts this season. The right-hander went 14-6 with a 3.34 ERA in 33 starts to help the club win the World Series last year. The two-time All-Star has compiled a 23-12 record and a 3.80 ERA with Atlanta since the start of last season, and his 416 strikeouts are third-most in the NL.

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