MILWAUKEE — Aaron Judge hit his 58th and 59th home runs of the season to move within two of Roger Maris’ American League record with 16 games remaining and lead the New York Yankees over the Milwaukee Brewers 12-8 on Sunday.

Judge added a two-run double in the ninth as part of a four-hit day for New York (88-58), which hit five homers and avoided a three-game sweep. The Yankees opened a 5 1/2-game lead over second-place Toronto in the AL East.

Judge’s 11th multihomer game tied the season record set by Detroit’s Hank Greenberg 1938 and matched by the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa in 1998.

Seeking a Triple Crown, Judge leads the major leagues in homers and with 127 RBI. His .3162 batting average is just behind AL leader Luis Arraez of Minnesota at .317 and Boston’s Xander Bogaerts at .3164.

Milwaukee (78-68) dropped two games behind San Diego, which played later Sunday, for the third and last NL wild card.

Judge’s homers totaled 857 feet. His first came on a sinker from Jason Alexander with a 2-0 count in the third inning. The 414-foot, opposite-field drive into the right field second deck left the bat at 112 mph.

Then in the seventh against Luis Perdomo, Judge pulled a slider with a 1-2 count for a 443-foot shot to left.

Judge also walked against Hoby Milner (3-3) leading off a four-run fifth as the Yankees went ahead to stay at 7-4.

Judge had not homered in his previous three games since going deep twice at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber is a distant second in the major leagues with 39 homers.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RAYS 5, RANGERS 3: Christian Bethancourt and Jose Siri hit back-to-back homers over a three-pitch stretch in the second inning, and Tampa Bay won in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Bethancourt had three hits, and Siri went 2 for 3 with a walk. Jonathan Aranda, Manuel Margot and Taylor Walls each drove in a run.

Tampa Bay (82-64) secured its fifth straight winning season. It is right in the mix for one of the AL’s three wild cards.

ORIOLES 5, BLUE JAYS 4: Adley Rutschman hit a two-run single in the ninth inning and Baltimore turned the 15th triple play in team history, rallying to win in Toronto to avoid a three-game sweep.

Jesús Aguilar hit a solo homer as Baltimore (76-69) won for the second time in its past eight meetings with Toronto (83-64). Rutschman went 2 for 3 with two walks.

Joey Krehbiel (5-4) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. Félix Bautista earned his 14th save in 15 chances, pitching around George Springer’s two-out RBI double.

ANGELS 5, MARINERS 1: Luis Rengifo hit a pair of home runs for the second time in three games, Livan Soto went deep for the first time and Los Angeles won its third in a row over wild card-chasing Seattle in Anaheim, California.

Seeking their first playoff appearance since 2001, the longest dought in the major leaguers, the Mariners (80-64) saw their lead for the third and final AL wild card berth cut to four games over Baltimore (76-69).

Toronto (83-64) and Tampa Bay (82-64) hold the first two wild card spots.

ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 2: Framber Valdez set an MLB record with his 25th straight quality start, and Yordan Alvarez and Martin Maldonado had four RBI each to help Houston build an early lead in a rout at home.

Alvarez drove in three runs with a double in Houston’s five-run third inning and padded the lead with an RBI double the sixth inning. He extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games, piling up nine hits, four home runs and nine RBI in the series, in which Houston took three of four.

TWINS 3, GUARDIANS 0: Joe Ryan pitched shutout ball for the second straight outing and became only the second Minnesota starter to reach the eighth inning this season to lead the Twins to a win in Cleveland.

Jake Cave hit a solo homer in the second off Cody Morris (0-2) and AL batting leader Luis Arraez added a two-run single in the ninth against Enyel De Los Santos as third-place Minnesota stopped an eight-game losing streak against Cleveland. The second-place Chicago White Sox moved within 3½ games of the Guardians.

TIGERS 11, WHITE SOX 5: Andrew Vaughn hit his first career grand slam, and Chicago won in Detroit.

Eloy Jiménez and AJ Pollock also connected as Chicago won for the third time in four games. Jiménez finished with three hits and three RBI, and Gavin Sheets had two hits and two RBI.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 3, NATIONALS 1: Sandy Alcantara pitched his major league-leading fifth complete game, a seven-hitter that led Miami won in Washington to avoid a series sweep.

Alcantara (13-8) struck out seven and walked one, throwing 104 pitches. His 2.37 ERA is second in the National League to the 2.27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Julio Urías, and Alcantara leads the major leagues with 212 2/3 innings. He is 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA in four starts against Washington this season.

Alcantara, who got his first win in four September starts, has pitched 17% of the 29 complete games in the major leagues this season. Houston’s Framber Valdez (three) and Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola (two) are the only other pitchers to throw more the one.

BRAVES 5, PHILLIES 2: Rookie Spencer Strider took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out 10, William Contreras hit a tiebreaking homer and Atlanta won at home for a three-game sweep.

Strider (11-5) didn’t allow a hit until Alec Bohm homered to tie the score 1-1. Rookie center fielder Michael Harris II looked as if he might catch the ball as he leapt, but it went just out of the reach of his glove and over the wall. Bohm’s 12th homer traveled 412 feet.

Contreras drove a changeup by Connor Brogdon (2-1) for a 410-foot shot into the left-field seats to make it 2-1 in the sixth.

REDS 3, CARDINALS 0: Stuart Fairchild homered and Luis Cessa tossed five shutout innings as Cincinnati shut down Albert Pujols and the Cardinals in St. Louis.

The 42-year-old Pujols, who entered the game with 698 home runs, went 0 for 4. He received a lengthy standing ovation from the sellout crowd in each of his plate appearances.

Pujols sits fourth on the all-time list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). He has 19 home runs this season, and his last round-tripper came in a 6-5 win over the Reds on Friday. The Cardinals have 14 games remaining.

METS 7, PIRATES 3:  Jacob deGrom struck out 13 batters – the most ever for a Mets pitcher who threw five or fewer innings – but didn’t factor into the decision, when the NL East leaders won at home to complete a four-game sweep.

The Pirates were up 3-1 when the Mets scored four in the eighth.

Terrance Gore pinch-ran in place of Tomas Nido, who hit a single off Robert Stephenson (2-2). Gore stole second after three throws to first by Manny Bañuelos, took third when catcher Jason Delay’s throw sailed into centerfield and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s bloop single.

Daniel Vogelbach added a one-out, two-RBI single and Eduardo Escobar had a run-scoring groundout.

ROCKIES 4, CUBS 3: Randal Grichuk had two hits and two RBI, and Colorado beat Chicago at Wrigley Field for a rare second straight win on the road.

Connor Joe hit a solo homer for last-place Colorado, and Brendan Rodgers had a run-scoring groundout. Ryan Feltner (3-8) pitched 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball for his first win since Aug. 9.

PADRES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 1:  Juan Soto homered for the first time in three weeks and Yu Darvish pitched six scoreless innings, helping San Diego win in Phoenix.

Soto finished with three hits and two RBI. He walked and scored on Manny Machado’s 29th homer in the first. He connected for a solo drive in the fifth, singled in the eighth and doubled in the ninth.

Soto, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Washington on Aug. 2, hit just .089 (5 for 56) in his previous 17 games. It was the second time Soto and Machado homered in the same game as teammates.

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