Yankees' Judge running out of time for 62nd HR

Aaron Judge went 0 for 2 with two walks and was hit by a pitch, remaining at 61 homers on the 61st anniversary of Roger Maris setting the American League record, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-0 Saturday.

Judge reached base leading off to spark a threerun first and a four-run seventh and also struckout twice. He leads the AL with 110 walks.

A 2-0 cutter from Austin Voth (5-4) glanced off Judge’s left arm in the first, and he walked on five pitches in the second. Judge struck out on a full-count curveball in the fourth — at 2:43 p.m., 61 years to the minute when Maris hit his 61st off Boston’s Tracy Stallard across the street at old Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1961.

Judge walked on five pitches from Spenser Watkins in the seventh and struck out against him on a full count in the eighth. Both times, he fouled off a 3-0 pitch.

AL East champion New York (97-60) has five games remaining: Sunday’s home finale followed by a fourgame series at Texas.

Judge is in contention to become the first Triple Crown winner in a decade. He leads in RBIS and at .313 is second in batting to Minnesota’s Luis Arraez. YANKEES’ BRITTON DONE FOR SEASON >> Zack Britton’s season is over, his comeback from Tommy John surgery cut short after just three relief appearances for the New York Yankees.

New York put the 34-year-old left-hander on the 60-day injured list Saturday and selected the contract of right-hander Jacob Barnes from Triple-a Scranton/wilkes-barre.

BRAVES TAKE OVER FIRST IN N.L. EAST >> Dansby Swanson isn’t surprised the Atlanta Braves have fought back to climb atop the NL East.

“Just keep going,” Swanson said. “This is no time to celebrate. There’s four games left. So much left to be had of this season.”

Swanson and Matt Olson homered off Max Scherzer, lifting the Braves to a crucial 4-2 victory Saturday night over the New York Mets and a one-game lead in the NL East.

The defending World Series champions beat aces Jacob degrom and Scherzer on consecutive nights to take their biggest lead of the season in the division. New York, which held a 10 1/2-game cushion on June 1, faces its biggest deficit of the year with four games remaining.

Atlanta will try for a three-game sweep today night, when Charlie Morton faces Mets right-hander Chris Bassitt.

BLUE JAYS 10, RED SOX 0 >> Teoscar Hernández homered, doubled twice and singled, Danny Jansen drove in five runs and Toronto moved one step closer to wrapping up the top spot in the AL wildcard race by routing Boston.

The Blue Jays began the day with a 1 1/2-game lead over Seattle atop the wild-card standings.

Ross Stripling (10-4) and four relievers combined on a four-hitter as Toronto shut out the Red Sox for the second straight day. Bo Bichette went 4 for 4 as Toronto opened October with a 21hit outburst.

Making his final start of the season, Boston rookie right-hander Brayan Bello (2-8) allowed four runs and a career-high 10 hits in four innings.

CUBS 2, REDS 1 >> Seiya Suzuki hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and Chicago won its sixth in a row by topping Cincinnati.

Suzuki’s two-out drive to left-center against Derek Law (2-3) was Chicago’s first hit since the fourth and the last of three on the day. But the Cubs also had six walks and made the most of a strong performance by their bullpen.

Cincinnati dropped its fifth straight game and 18th in its last 22 overall. It needs to win three of its last four — all against Chicago — to avoid the franchise’s second 100-loss season.

Wade Miley (2-2) got the win.

ROYALS 7, GUARDIANS 1 >> Salvador Perez had four hits and drove in a pair of runs, Kris Bubic struck out a season-high eight and the Kansas City Royals beat the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night.

Perez collected three singles and a solo homer in four plate appearances, spoiling the return of Cleveland right-hander Zach Plesac (3-12) following a one-month stay on the injured list with a broken pitching hand.

The Guardians will host either Toronto, Seattle or Tampa Bay in a best-of-3 wild-card series next weekend. Cleveland has won 10 of 12 and is an Mlb-best 21-5 since Sept. 5.