The Yankees clubhouse remained completely dry Tuesday night, with containers of champagne and beer remaining there for at least another day.
The Yankees had a chance to land a direct knockout punch on the Orioles and clinch the AL East, but they missed their chance to attack, losing 5-3 in the Bronx.
The Yankees' magic number for winning the division remains one, five games behind the Orioles with five games remaining, while the magic number for securing the best record in the AL (and home-field advantage heading into the AL Championship Series) remains three.
The only certainty from Tuesday's loss is that the Orioles (87-70) will win the season series against the Yankees (92-65), but that can only happen if the Orioles advance and the Yankees lose, with the tiebreaker going to Baltimore.
The Yankees had a chance to squander it all, but they sacrificed themselves with three outs and Aaron Judge at bat in the bottom of the seventh with the score at one.
Trailing 4-1 going into the inning, the Yankees looked like they might pull off some late magic to clinch the division.
Gleyber Torres (3-for-4) hit a ground-rule double to right field off Yeniel Cano to cut the lead to 4-2, sending Juan Soto home and bringing the crowd to its feet.
Soto hit a timely single to right field and threw home late to Alex Verdugo in an attempt to catch the ball, but continued to run to second base, making the score 4-3.
Torres initially rounded third base, but catcher Adley Rutschman threw the ball to second base to get Soto out, and Torres was almost there by the time he started running toward home plate.
Soto slid safely into the plate, but the Orioles forced Torres into a rundown and eventually tagged him out to end the inning, denying the Orioles a chance to tie the game or take the lead from Judge, who hit his 56th home run in the fourth inning.
Then Colton Cowser hit a 432-foot home run off leadoff hitter Ian Hamilton in the top of the eighth to give the Orioles a 5-3 lead.
The Yankees threatened again in the bottom of the ninth against a shaky Orioles relief corps when Anthony Rizzo walked with one out and then Jason Dominguez, who came in to pinch hit for Anthony Volpe against right-hander Seranty Dominguez, grounded out to second base for the out.
Clark Schmidt struck out three of the first four batters he faced to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead entering the second inning. Jordan Westberg singled to left field and Ryan O'Hearn hit a ground-rule double down the right field line that bounced into the stands.
Heston Kierstad came up to bat next and, with one out and the Yankees backing up their infield, hit a grounder to second base, bringing in a run.
In the fourth inning, Schmidt walked leadoff hitter Anthony Santander, which proved costly: He retired the next two batters but then threw a wild pitch to O'Hearn, allowing Santander to advance to second base.
O'Hearn then took advantage of a 3-1 pitch he thought was his fourth, but it was called a strike, extending his at-bat, by hitting a single through the left side to make the score 2-0.
Judge cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning when he hit a 3-2 split to left field off Dean Kremer for his 56th home run of the season. It was the fifth time this year that Judge has homered in three consecutive games, putting the finishing touches on an MVP-candidate season.
The Yankees had a golden opportunity to tie the game or take the lead in the fifth inning, but one of the most surprising events for fans led to further upset for the Yankees.
Rizzo and Volpe walked consecutive batters to lead off the inning, bringing Alex Verdugo to bat. He hit a chop ball to right-center field off Gunnar Henderson for an easy double play.
The crowd of 41,149 booed Verdugo as he returned to the dugout. He had started in left field for Dominguez on Tuesday, but manager Aaron Boone wanted to keep both players available as the Yankees face a decision looming about how they will fare in left field in the playoffs.
The Orioles extended their lead in the top of the sixth inning when Santander hit a solo home run off the right-field foul pole to end Schmidt's 5 1/3 innings.
After Giancarlo Stanton came close to tying the score in the bottom of the sixth (his deep fly to right was a slice foul and his bullet to left was wide foul), Ramon Urias hit a solo home run off Tim Maiza to extend the lead to 4-1.
