The Yankees clubhouse remained bone dry on Tuesday night, the tubs of champagne and beer kept in storage for at least one more day.
With a chance to deliver a knockout punch to the Orioles in person and capture the American League East, the Yankees wasted a few opportunities to strike and instead fell 5-3 in The Bronx.
The Yankees’ magic number to clinch the division remained at one — leading the Orioles by five games with five to play — while their magic number to secure the AL’s best record (for home-field advantage through the ALCS) stayed at three.
The only thing Tuesday’s loss guaranteed was that the Orioles (87-70) will win the season series against the Yankees (92-65), which would only come into play if the Orioles win out and the Yankees lose out, with the tiebreaker going to Baltimore.
The Yankees had a chance to make all of that moot, but cost themselves by running into a third out with Aaron Judge on deck in a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Trailing 4-1 entering the frame, the Yankees looked like they were going to use some late magic to clinch the division in style.
Gleyber Torres (3-for-4) ripped a ground-rule double to right field off Yennier Cano that cut the deficit to 4-2 and brought up Juan Soto with the crowd on its feet ready to explode.
Soto delivered an RBI single to right field and kept running to second base on the throw home that was late trying to nab Alex Verdugo for the run that made it 4-3.
Torres had initially taken a turn around third base but was nearly all the way back to the bag when he took off for home as catcher Adley Rutschman threw to second trying to get Soto.
Soto slid in safely, but the Orioles got Torres into a rundown and eventually tagged him out to end the inning and rob Judge — who had hit his 56th home run in the fourth — of a chance to tie the game or take the lead.
Colton Cowser then led off the top of the eighth with a 432-foot home run off Ian Hamilton that put the Orioles up 5-3.
The Yankees threatened again in the bottom of the ninth against the shaky Orioles bullpen. Anthony Rizzo drew a one-out walk before Jasson Dominguez — pinch-hitting for Anthony Volpe against righty Seranthony Dominguez — grounded out to second.
Clarke Schmidt struck out three of the first four batters he faced before the Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jordan Westburg roped a single to left and Ryan O’Hearn looped a ground-rule double down the right-field line that bounced into the seats.
Heston Kjerstad came up next and, with one out and the Yankees playing the infield back, grounded out to second base to drive in a run.
In the fourth inning, Schmidt issued a leadoff walk to Anthony Santander that came back to hurt. He retired the next two batters but threw a wild pitch to O’Hearn, allowing Santander to take second.
O’Hearn then thought a 3-1 pitch was ball four, but it was called a strike and extended the at-bat, which he took advantage of by shooting a single through the left side to make it 2-0.
Judge cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning when he crushed Dean Kremer’s 3-2 splitter to left field for his 56th home run of the season. It marked the fifth time this year that Judge has homered in three straight games, putting the finishing touches on a likely MVP campaign.
The Yankees then had a prime opportunity to tie the game or take the lead in the fifth inning, only for one of the biggest sources of fan consternation to give them added fuel.
Rizzo and Volpe led off the frame with back-to-back walks to bring up Alex Verdugo, who hit a chopper up the middle right to Gunnar Henderson for an easy double play.
The crowd of 41,149 showered Verdugo with boos as he headed back to the dugout. He was starting in left field Tuesday over Dominguez as Aaron Boone tries to keep both players in the mix with a decision looming on how the Yankees handle the position in the playoffs.
The Orioles then added to their lead in the top of the sixth, as Santander drilled a solo home run off the right-field foul pole, ending Schmidt’s night after 5 ¹/₃ innings.
After Giancarlo Stanton came close to tying the game in the bottom of the sixth — his deep fly ball to right sliced foul and a bullet to left went way foul — Ramon Urias made it a 4-1 lead when he drilled a solo shot off Tim Mayza.
