New York’s Aaron Judge hits a two-run home run in the Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Orioles on Saturday in Baltimore. Julio Cortez/Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge homered and singled twice in his second game back from the injured list and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-3 on Saturday night.
Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka went deep as well for the Yankees, who knocked out struggling Orioles starter Tyler Wells (7-6) in the third inning. In the sixth, Isiah Kiner-Falefa capped a 10-pitch at-bat with a three-run double to make it 8-3.
Judge has three walks and three hits in nine plate appearances since returning Friday from the toe injury that kept him out since early June.
Ryan Mountcastle homered for the Orioles, but Clarke Schmidt (7-6) made it through five tough innings and the New York bullpen took it from there.
The Orioles remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay atop the AL East. The Yankees are 3 1/2 behind Toronto and Houston for the final two wild cards in the American League.
BLUE JAYS 6, ANGELS 1: Alejandro Kirk hit two home runs, Santiago Espinal added a two-run homer and Toronto won at home.
Kirk hit a leadoff homer against former Blue Jays left-hander Aaron Loup in the seventh inning, then hit a two-run shot off right-hander Jaime Barria in the eighth. It was Kirk’s first multihomer game of the season and the fourth of his career.
Toronto won for the 14th time in 20 games and moved to a season-best 13 games above .500 at 59-46. The Blue Jays are 25-11 when they hit two or more home runs.
The Angels, who began the day four games behind the Blue Jays in the AL wild-card race, lost their second straight after winning the previous four. Los Angeles is 54-51.
Shohei Ohtani started for the Angels after leaving Friday’s game in the ninth because of cramps in both legs. Ohtani was hit on the left foot by a pitch in the first inning, doubled in the third, and was intentionally walked in both the fifth and sixth innings.
WHITE SOX 7, GUARDIANS 2: Tim Anderson homered for the first time in more than a year on a three-hit night, Mike Clevinger tossed five shutout innings in his return from the injured list and Chicago won at home.
Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer and Yoán Moncada had two RBI to help the White Sox beat Cleveland for the second straight night following a six-game losing streak.
ASTROS 17, RAYS 4: Jeremy Peña had a career-high four RBI, Yainer Díaz and José Abreu added three apiece and host Houston had its highest-scoring game of the season in a rout of Tampa Bay.
Díaz put Houston up early with a two-run shot in the second. Peña, who had two hits, made it 5-0 with a bases-loaded double in the fourth.
Chas McCormick hit a two-run triple in Houston’s three-run fifth and Abreu made it 11-0 with his 10th homer of the season in the sixth to help the Astros bounce back after a 4-3 loss in the series opener Friday.
Hunter Brown (7-7) allowed four hits and two runs in 6-plus innings for his first win since June 13.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BRAVES 11, BREWERS 5: Ronald Acuña hit his 24th home run and stole his 50th base, and Atlanta used a six-run first inning to beat Milwaukee in Atlanta.
Bryce Elder (8-2) shut down the Brewers after being staked to the big lead. He allowed one run and four hits while striking out three in seven innings.
Taylor Hearn allowed four runs in the eighth for the Braves before Michael Tonkin closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
PIRATES 7, PHILLIES 6: Endy Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, bases-loaded triple and drove in four runs, fellow rookie Liover Peguero had a home run among his three hits and Pittsburgh won at home.
Rodriguez’s triple sparked a four-run fifth inning against Aaron Nola (9-7) that put the Pirates in front 7-4. Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh was unable to make a play on the sinking liner and Rodriguez then scored on Alika Williams’ single, which was his first career hit.
INTERLEAGUE
TIGERS 5, MARLINS 0: Akil Badoo and Riley Greene homered, and five pitchers combined on a seven-hitter as Detroit won in Miami.
Tigers star slugger Miguel Cabrera doubled and singled in four at-bats and continued to receive cheers in his final visiting series against the club the native Venezuelan began his 20-year career with. The game, promoted as Venezuelan Heritage Day, attracted a season-high crowd of 32,936 – the largest crowd for a Marlins home game since April 2017.
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