Yankees squander second chance and secure AL East by losing to Orioles

Barring a surprise collapse, the Yankees will likely win the American League East title sometime during the final four days of the regular season.

But Wednesday was an ugly pit stop on the way there.

The bad news began hours before the first pitch when Nestor Cortes was removed from the roster and placed on the injured list due to a strain in his left elbow flexor that jeopardized his ability to play in the playoffs.

Then his backup Marcus Stroman allowed six consecutive singles to start the game – including a crucial defensive error by left fielder Jasson Dominguez – and things didn’t get much better from there, as the Yankees lost their second straight game 9-7 to the Orioles in front of 41,010 excited fans in the Bronx.

The Yankees (92-66) trailed 9-3 at the start of the ninth inning, but then caught up and made things exciting, including a three-run shot by Aaron Judge, his 57th home run of the year.

But the champagne stayed cold for the second night in a row, as the Yankees’ magic number to win the division remained at one while the Orioles fell to four games behind with four games left to play.

The Yankees’ magic number for the best record in the AL also remained at three (they are now only half a game ahead of the Guardians).