CNN
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The New York Yankees failed to clinch the American League (AL) East title for the second straight season on Wednesday despite a historic 142nd RBI for Aaron Judge in a 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Trailing 3-0 after the first inning, the Orioles never seemed to be in trouble until the Yankees began to fight back in the bottom of the ninth inning. Juan Soto singled to bring home Anthony Rizzo, making it 9-4 against Baltimore, before Judge hit a three-run home run – his MLB-leading 57th hit of the season – to cut Baltimore’s lead to two .

The Orioles then made a pitching change, bringing in Keegan Akin for Matt Bowman, and closed out the game to secure the win over their division rivals.

Despite the loss, Judge has now hit a home run in four straight games, increased to 142 RBIs this season and is the first player to score more than 140 runs in a season since 2009, when both Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard scored 141. According to MLB statistics, the longest span between 140-plus RBI seasons has been five years since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920.

After nearly overcoming a large deficit, Judge decided to focus on the team’s performance in a postgame interview. “The team didn’t give up until the end,” the 2022 AL MVP said, according to the AP. “I never feel like we’re ever out of a game, no matter the result.”

In a disastrous first inning for the Yanks, relief starter Marcus Stroman gave up six straight singles to lead off the ballgame, the first time Baltimore had accomplished that feat since at least 1969.

After the Orioles scored three times in the first, Anthony Volpe’s RBI single in the second brought the score back to 3-1.

But after a difficult fourth inning for New York, Baltimore extended its lead again when Gunnar Henderson’s two RBI singles drew more boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd and marked the end of Stroman’s night on the mound.

Clayton Beeter fared no better, allowing RBI doubles from Anthony Santander and Colton Cowser in the fourth and an RBI single from James McCann in the fifth to make the score 8-1.

Juan Soto struck back with a two-run blast – his 41st home run of the year – to make it 8-3 in the fifth before Jordan Westburg’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave Baltimore enough cushion to see out the game out of.

After securing their seventh playoff berth in eight seasons last week, the Yankees now need to win at least one of their four remaining games to clinch the division title.

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