Aaron Judge hit his first homer in 113 days to help the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins and clinch a playoff spot for a third straight year.

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (L) went 1 for 4 in an 8-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday in Minneapolis. File Photo by CJ Gunther/UPI UPI New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning of a win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday in Minneapolis. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI UPI New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge returned from the injured list Sept. 8 after missing 84 games due to a rib fracture. File Photo by Corey Sipkin/UPI UPI All-Star slugger Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees clinched at least a wild card playoff berth with a win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday in Minneapolis. File Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI UPI Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season. File Photo by Ray Stubblebine/UPI UPI

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Aaron Judge hit his first home run in 113 days to help the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins and clinch a playoff spot for a third consecutive year.

Judge, who returned from the injured list Sept. 8, hit the 415-foot, three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning of the 8-3 triumph Monday in Minneapolis. With the homer, he pushed his season total to 18 over 65 appearances.

"We've got a special group here, special guys," Judge said on the YES Network broadcast. "We are fighting for each other. We are in everybody's corner. We just continue to get better.

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"Excited to get back in the postseason."

The Yankees (87-63), who won six of their last seven, remain in second place in the American League East, but clinched at least a wild card berth. They are 3.5 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays (90-59) with a dozen regular-season games remaining.

They went 46-39 without Judge and 41-24 with the three-time MVP in their lineup.

Entering Monday, Judge went 3 for 17 (.176), with no extra base hits and nine strikeouts in five games since his return. He also hadn't homered since May 24.

"It was good to see him really get a great swing off and kinda put a little bit of a nail in the coffin," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge.

Yankees starter Will Warren allowed five hits and two runs -- each unearned -- over 5 2/3 innings. The Yankees bullpen allowed just one hit and one run over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Infielder Jose Caballero hit a 372-foot solo shot off Twins starter Dean Kremer in the top of the third for the first run of the night. The Twins took their lone lead off a two-run triple from left fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez in the bottom of the sixth.

The Yankees then struck for six runs in the eighth to take control. The surge featured six hits in the first seven at-bats of the frame. Caballero tied the score with an RBI single. Designated hitter Ben Rice hit a two-run single in the next at-bat for a 4-2 edge. Left fielder Cody Bellinger singled in the next exchange, bringing Judge to the plate for his final plate appearance of the night.

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The Yankees captain worked to a 2-2 count. He hit the next offering -- an 88.6-mph cutter -- to left field for a 104.2-mph bomb and 7-2 Yankees lead.

Twins designed hitter Josh Bell answered with a 370-foot solo shot in the bottom of the inning. Yankees catcher Austin Wells plated the game's final run with a 371-foot solo homer in the ninth.

Judge went 1 for 4 with three RBIs and two strikeouts. Rice and Caballero recorded two hits apiece for the Yankees. Bell went 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Twins.

The Twins will host the Yankees at 7:40 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Target Field.