ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yankees slugger Aaron Judge led off the nightcap with his American League-record 62nd home run and Gerrit Cole set the franchise single-season strikeouts record even as New York lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night for a doubleheader split.

Leody Taveras hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning of the second game to put the Rangers ahead to stay, after their 5-4 loss in the opener had extended their losing streak to seven games. The AL East champion Yankees have won 99 games, the Rangers 67.

Judge drove the third pitch of second game, a 1-1 slider from Rangers opener Jesus Tinoco, into the first row of seats in left field to end his long, tiring chase to break Roger Maris’ AL mark that had stood since 1961.

It was the 55th game in a row Judge had played since Aug. 5, and the only homer he had hit in the previous 13 games was No. 61 last Wednesday in Toronto. He went 1 for 5 with a single and scored the decisive run in the opener Tuesday.

Cole (13-8) struck out nine, raising his major league-best total to 257. The right-hander had entered the game tied with the 248 strikeouts Ron Guidry had in 1978, when he was the AL Cy Young Award winner after going 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA. Cole passed Guidry when he struck out Rangers No. 2 batter Nathaniel Lowe in the first inning.

BRAVES 2, MARLINS 1

MIAMI (AP) — William Contreras drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in the fifth, Atlanta clinched its fifth consecutive NL East title by beating Miami.

Atlanta earned a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed in the NL, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Braves were 10 1/2 games behind the New York Mets at the start of June and lost four of five to New York in early August. After sweeping the Mets over the weekend to take the division lead, Atlanta entered the series needing a win or a Mets loss to clinch the division crown.

Starter Jake Odorizzi (6-6) pitched five innings, struck out six, allowed two hits, and one home run to Jesus Sanchez in the fourth. Kenley Jansen recorded his 41st save, working a perfect ninth.

Miami starter Braxton Garrett (3-7) was pulled in the fifth after Contreras’ two-out grounder to third scored Travis d’Arnaud and allowed Atlanta to retake the lead. Contreras had two hits and an RBI.

ASTROS 10, PHILLIES 0

HOUSTON (AP) — Justin Verlander capped his magnificent comeback season by striking out 10 without allowing a hit in five innings, and Houston’s bullpen kept Philadelphia hitless until the ninth inning.

Verlander, who has pitched three no-hitters in his career, walked one before being pulled after 77 pitches. The AL West champion Astros led the NL wild-card Phillies 8-0 at the point.

Rookie Hunter Brown pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings and Hector Neris got the last two outs of the eighth inning. Will Smith came on for the ninth and Garrett Stubbs singled to center field to break up the no-hitter bid.

Jeremy Pena, Kyle Tucker and Martin Maldonado homered as the Astros jumped on Ranger Suarez (10-7) for six runs in two innings to build a huge lead early in their 1,000th win at Minute Maid Park, which opened in 2000.

Verlander (18-4) collected his American League-leading 18th win, and his MLB-leading 1.75 ERA is the lowest for a qualified pitcher in the AL, excluding the pandemic-shortened season, since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA in 2000.

METS 4, NATIONALS 2 (Game 1)

METS 8, NATIONALS 0 (Game 2)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York was eliminated from the NL East race even as Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeill opened with three straight homers to spark the Mets to a sweep of a doubleheader.

The Braves were batting in the sixth with a 2-1 lead in Miami when the Mets started the second game with three straight homers for the first time in team history.

Atlanta closed out its fifth straight division title with the 2-1 win over the Marlins as the Mets finished batting in the fourth, A few groans could be heard from the crowd, who earlier were chanting “Let’s Go Marlins.”

The Mets will face either the Padres or Phillies in a best-of-three wild-card series starting Friday at home. The winner of that series will face the NL-best Dodgers in the Division Series starting Tuesday.

Stephen Nogosek (1-1) got six strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings for his first career win in the second game.

Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs on five hits in four-plus innings in the first game. Adam Ottavino (6-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings and Edwin DÌaz got four outs for his 32nd save.

WHITE SOX 8, TWINS 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Luis Arraez had one hit to move closer to his first AL batting championship, one of only two hits Minnesota managed off Chicago’s Lucas Giolito in seven innings.

Elvis Andrus hit his third homer in four games, a three-run shot, as the White Sox cruised to their second straight win after Tony La Russa stepped down as manager on Monday.

The 25-year-old Arraez extended his hitting streak to eight games and held his average at .315 has he tries to become the fifth Twins player to win the league batting title. He was back in the lineup as DH after missing the previous two games with a left hamstring injury.

Arraez is ahead of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is hitting .311 in his bid for the AL Triple Crown. Judge hit his AL-record 62nd homer in the second game of New York’s doubleheader at Texas and leads the league with 131 RBIs.

Giolito (11-9) allowed two runs on two hits and two walks and hit two batters as he won for the first time since Aug. 24.

RED SOX 6, RAYS 0, 5 INNINGS

BOSTON (AP) — Xander Bogaerts hit a grand slam and Nathan Eovaldi pitched five scoreless innings in what could be his final appearance in a Red Sox uniform to help Boston beat the playoff-bound Tampa in a rain-shortened game.

Christian Arroyo added an RBI single for Boston (77-84), which won its fifth straight home game.

Boston took a 6-0 lead with two outs in the fifth inning when rain started to fall heavily, prompting a delay. The game was called 52 minutes later.

The Rays (86-75) lost their fourth straight game since clinching a playoff berth. They will be the AL’s No. 6 seed and get a wild-card matchup with AL Central champion Cleveland.

Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs (9-5) allowed one run off two hits and struck out three over three innings.

Eovaldi (6-3), who will be a free agent at the end of the season, allowed just two hits and struck out four in his second start since returning from the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation.

CARDINALS 8, PIRATES 7 (10 INNINGS)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Albert Pujols drove in two more runs and St. Louis went on to beat Pittsburgh.

Pujols hit a two-run single in the third inning to push his career total to 2,218 RBIs. That came a night after he broke a tie with Babe Ruth for second place on the career list. Hank Aaron holds the record with 2,287.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol then removed the 42-year-old Pujols at the end of the inning. St. Louis opens postseason play Friday when it hosts a best-of-three National League wild-card series.

Juan Yepez gave the Cardinals the win when he hit a tiebreaking single with one in the 10th inning off Chase De Jong (6-3) to score automatic runner Ben DeLuzio.

GUARDIANS 5, ROYALS 3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cal Quantrill finished the regular season unbeaten at home, improving to 14-0 in his career at Progressive Field after Owen Miller hit a two-run homer in Cleveland’s win over Kansas City.

Quantrill (15-5) was in danger of his unblemished run at home ending before Miller’s shot off Daniel Lynch (4-13) capped Cleveland’s five-run fifth. Quantrill’s 14-game winning streak is the longest in the ballpark’s history. It also matches the longest unbeaten streak for a pitcher in any ballpark since 1901. Vic Raschi went 14-0 at Chicagoís Comiskey Park from 1947-55.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run double and Andres Gimenez had an RBI single in the fifth.

Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase gave up a run in the ninth before getting his MLB-leading 42nd save.

Cleveland will host Tampa Bay in the wild-card round beginning Friday.