Ben Rice’s second home run of the day, a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifted the New York Yankees to a vital 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on the last day of the season.
But eight straight wins to end the year still weren’t enough to win the division.
Up in Toronto, the Blue Jays cracked the Tampa Bay Rays 13-4 to clinch their first American League East title since 2015, thanks to their tiebreaker over the Yankees. Both teams finished with identical 94-68 records.
While the Blue Jays held on to the No. 1 overall seed in the American League, which grants them a bye into the ALDS, the Yankees will host the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-three Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night in the Bronx.
The Orioles’ runs came from back-to-back home runs in the top of the fourth inning by Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson off Yankees starter Luis Gil.
It was the only damage conceded by New York’s righty, who yielded three hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five innings pitched.
Baltimore’s back-to-back jacks overturned Rice’s 25th home run of the season, which gave the Yankees a one-run lead at the jump in the bottom of the first.
Giancarlo Stanton tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth off Orioles starter Kyle Bradish, who struck out eight Yankees in his four frames of work. The veteran right-hander, who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, ended his season with an impressive 2.53 ERA.
Aaron Judge put the bow on another brilliant season, which will end in strong MVP consideration — potentially his third. He wrapped up the American League batting title with a .331 average and became just the third player in MLB history (Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle) to win a batting title and hit more than 50 home runs in a season.
