Judge helps secure sweep; fan hurt

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit his American League-leading 45th home run and topped 100 RBIs and Didi Gregorius surpassed Derek Jeter for the most home runs by a Yankees shortstop as the Yankees beat the Twins 11-3 on Wednesday to sweep their three-game series.

The game was briefly halted in the fifth inning when a foul ball down the third-base line off the bat of Todd Frazier struck a young girl, who was carried out of the stands, given first aid and taken to a hospital. The protective netting at Yankee Stadium ends at the home plate side of each dugout, and the team said in July it is “seriously exploring” extending the netting for 2018.

Frazier knelt down and covered his head, and many other Yankees and Twins watched in stunned silence as the fan was helped. The Yankees said they weren’t allowed to provide more information on her condition.

The Yankees, who have won 10 of 12, began the day three games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox. They opened a seven-game advantage over the Twins for the top AL wild card with 10 games remaining.

The Twins, who were outscored 18-6 in the series and have lost five of six games, started 1 ⁄ games ahead of the Angels for the league’s last playoff berth.

Judge hit his eighth home run of September, a two-run drive that began the comeback from a 3-0 deficit. He added a sacrifice fly for his 101st RBI, joining Joe DiMaggio, Tony Lazzeri and Hideki Matsui as the only Yankees rookies to reach the century mark.

Gregorius’ three-run drive into the second deck in right was his 25th, surpassing Jeter’s total in 1999. Gary Sanchez also went deep for the 32nd time this season.