NEW YORK (AP) — Gunnar Henderson struck out three of Baltimore’s 12 hits in the first four innings, and the Orioles again prevented the New York Yankees from clinching the AL East title by going 9-1 despite another home run on Wednesday night. 7 win secured by Aaron Judge.

Colton Cowser drove in three runs for the playoff-bound Orioles, who beat backup starter Marcus Stroman early and improved to 8-4 against New York with one game left in their season series.

“We’re just focused on ourselves,” Henderson said. “I feel like we’re starting this at the right time.”

Judge went deep for the fourth straight game and hit his major league-leading 57th home run in a four-run ninth inning.

Matt Bowman’s three-run shot increased Judge’s career-best total to 142 RBIs, also the most in the majors, and cut New York’s deficit to 9-7.

“The team didn’t give up until the end,” said Judge. “I never feel like we’re ever out of a game, no matter the result.”

Keegan Akin retired the next two batters, marking his third career save and first of the year.

Juan Soto also hit a home run and scored three runs for New York, which could have ended the AL East race with a win over the Orioles on either of the final two nights. Anthony Volpe had an RBI single.

“Nothing has been easy for us this year. That shouldn’t be the case now. But we kind of persevered and fought through the whole thing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Baltimore moved within four games of the Yankees in the division standings with four games remaining. Cedric Mullins went 3 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

With at least one American League wild card, the second-place Orioles secured their second straight trip to the postseason on Tuesday night their 5-3 win at Yankee Stadium was paired with Minnesota’s loss to Miami nine minutes later.

Baltimore then enjoyed a lively party in the visitors’ clubhouse, but the Yankees appeared a bit hungover on Wednesday.

Stroman (10-9) was a late replacement for injured left-hander Nestor Cortes and allowed six straight singles to start the game – some of which didn’t hit very hard – as the Orioles took a 3-0 lead.

Rookie outfielder Jasson Domínguez ran over Cowser’s two-run single, a fly ball that fell into the left field corner.

“He missed some plays he was supposed to make,” Boone said.

Domínguez, a natural midfielder, said he ended up losing the ball.

“I have no excuse. This ball has to be caught 100% of the time,” he said.

Ryan Mountcastle followed with an RBI single. Henderson’s two-run single with one out in the fourth chased Stroman from his first start since Sept. 10. He gave up 10 of Baltimore’s 17 hits – 14 were singles – and was charged with six runs.

Anthony Santander and Cowser added back-to-back RBI doubles later in the inning.

“It was really good hitting from the first inning,” Baltimore coach Brandon Hyde said. “We had a lot of clutch problems and kept the line moving. I thought our attacks were really good all evening and you can never score too many points here. We almost saw it. So it was a great night for us offensively.”

Stroman had been moved to the bullpen for the final two weeks of the season because the Yankees had six healthy starters before Cortes went down. The veteran right-hander threw 64 pitches for a save in three innings on Sept. 17 in Seattle.

With an 8-1 lead, Orioles starter Zach Eflin hit a career-high five and was ejected after 4 2/3 innings. Jacob Webb (2-5) retired Jazz Chisholm Jr. with the bases full to end the fifth and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

“It was a great win,” Eflin said. “The offense had my back.”

TRAINER ROOM

Orioles: RHP Grayson Rodriguez will miss the postseason because of complaints in the right latissimus.

Yankees: Cortes should start, but He was scratched and placed on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his pitching elbow. He and the Yankees held out hope that he could return at some point in the postseason, but that didn’t seem likely.

NEXT

A battle of Cy Young Award winners on Thursday night as Baltimore RHP Corbin Burnes (15-8, 2.95 ERA) faces Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67) to complete the three-game series.

In his only start at Yankee Stadium, Burnes threw eight hitless innings for Milwaukee last September. The right-hander has a 1.08 ERA this month and will attempt to become the first Orioles pitcher to win 16 games in a season since Chris Tillman in 2016.

Cole pitched nine innings in the win last time out in Oakland, allowing one run and two hits with seven strikeouts.

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