NEW YORK (Interstat) — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Ryan McMahon hit early home runs off Tomoyuki Sugano, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 on Saturday to maintain at least a share of the American League East lead heading into the regular season’s final day.

Rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler was the story on the mound, striking out a career-high nine over seven dominant innings of two-hit ball as the Yankees won their seventh straight game before an evening crowd of 46,085 at Yankee Stadium.

New York improved to 94-68 and is assured of at least a wild-card berth. The Yankees began the day tied with Toronto, which hosted Tampa Bay later Saturday. Baltimore, long eliminated from postseason contention, fell to 77-90.

Schlittler (4-3) was in command from the outset, baffling a young Orioles lineup with a sharp mix of pitches. The 24-year-old did not allow a runner past second base and finished his impressive rookie campaign with a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts.

The Yankees provided Schlittler with an immediate cushion. After Trent Grisham and Ben Rice flew out to left field to start the bottom of the first inning, Judge stepped in and launched Sugano’s offering deep to left-center field for his 53rd home run of the season, giving New York a 1-0 lead.

The power display continued in the second inning. Stanton led off the frame by crushing a solo shot to center field, his 24th of the year, to double the advantage. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out and Paul Goldschmidt popped out, McMahon connected for another solo homer, his 20th, to make it 3-0.

Sugano (11-10) settled down briefly, retiring the side in order in the third and working around a two-out double by Gunnar Henderson in the fourth. His outing unraveled in the decisive fifth inning, however.

McMahon started the rally with a sharp single to right field. After Anthony Volpe lined out to left, Sugano’s command deserted him. He walked Grisham and then walked Rice on four pitches to load the bases, prompting a visit from Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde.

The meeting did not stem the tide. Judge delivered the knockout blow, lining a single back up the middle that scored both McMahon and Grisham. That chased Sugano from the game after 4 1/3 innings, having allowed five hits and four earned runs while striking out three.

Reliever Grant Wolfram entered and immediately yielded a sacrifice fly to Cody Bellinger that scored Rice, increasing the Yankees’ lead to 6-0. Wolfram then walked Stanton and hit Chisholm Jr. with a pitch to reload the bases before finally inducing an inning-ending force out from Goldschmidt.

Schlittler, meanwhile, continued to cruise. He worked around a two-out single by Tyler O’Neill in the sixth and retired the side in order in the seventh, finishing his outing by getting Samuel Basallo to fly out to left field.

The Orioles avoided the shutout in the eighth inning against Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn. Coby Mayo led off the frame by hitting a solo home run, his 11th of the season, to left-center field. Blackburn recovered to retire the next three batters, striking out Jackson Holliday and getting Jordan Westburg and Henderson to ground out and pop out, respectively.

Baltimore’s bullpen provided a silver lining after Sugano’s departure. Carson Ragsdale pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. Yaramil Hiraldo added a perfect eighth inning, striking out two Yankees batters.

Blackburn finished the game for New York, working the final two innings and allowing the lone run on one hit while striking out three.

The Orioles managed only three hits total, with Henderson’s double and singles from O’Neill and Mayo. They went 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.

The Yankees collected seven hits, with multi-hit games from Judge, Stanton and McMahon. Judge’s three RBIs led the game.

The victory extended New York’s dominance in the season series against Baltimore. The Yankees have now won 12 of the 17 meetings between the AL East rivals this year, including the last five consecutively. The teams will conclude both their regular-season series and the 2025 campaign on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

The game-time temperature was 68 degrees, and the contest was played in 2 hours, 28 minutes. The total score of 7 runs fell under the pregame over/under line of 9. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a higher-scoring affair, predicting a 7-6 Yankees victory, while its ELO system gave New York a 62.8 percent probability to win.