The Yankees lost Sunday's 3-2 series finale at the Chicago White Sox, blowing an opportunity to sweep the American League's worst team, but Aaron Judge's first-inning home run was an undeniable moment.

New York's captain launched his second homer in as many days, bringing his season total to 43 through 127 games, but more importantly tied Yogi Berra on the franchise's home run list with 358 career long balls.

"The most important thing's trying to get a win, especially when you can finish off a series sweep right there, so not getting that kind of stings," Judge said, referencing the Yankees (76-61) squandering a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning against the White Sox (49-88) and snapping New York's win streak at seven games. "But you get a chance to tie one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- Yankee in homers is pretty special.

"The way Yogi played the game, what he meant to the pinstripes -- you knew how much it meant, being a New York Yankee, to him. I feel the same way. I'm honored to wear this jersey. So, it's pretty cool to be on that list with him."

Judge trails Joe DiMaggio (361), Lou Gehrig (493), Mickey Mantle (536) and Babe Ruth (659).

"It's the company he belongs in," Boone said. "When he came into the dugout, I yelled 'Yogi' out to him. He's certainly earned his way into those rarified-air names with the career he's put together so far."

ALL RISE!

Aaron Judge ties Yogi Berra for the fifth most home runs in Yankee history 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZpxHQwhwPN

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 31, 2025

The Yankees selected Judge with the 2013 MLB Draft's No. 32 overall pick in the first round. His MLB debut was Aug. 13, 2016, and spent time around veterans who told him of Berra's firsthand influence.

"Didn't get to see him too much -- he was definitely around, over at big-league camp -- but he was a special individual," Judge said. "A lot of the veteran guys talked highly of him, as far as some of their favorite memories coming to spring training, was having the chance to talk to him during camp, just hear some of his stories, hear them say he just always had a smile on his face, was fun to be around.

"So, I didn't get to have a lot of time with him, but he's one of the greatest Yankees, one of the greatest players to play this game. So, it was pretty cool."

Berra died Sept. 22, 2015. He was 90.

His decorated career as a player with the Yankees (1946-63) and Mets (1965) saw him total 18 All-Star selections, 10 World Series rings, three American League MVPs. The Yankees retired his No. 8, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame's 1972 class.

"He was a fantastic baseball player," Judge said. "Ten World Series, that's pretty impressive -- that's what we're all chasing. Like I said, to be on a list with him, tie him -- I think our statures are a little different, but it's pretty cool."

Judge, 33, is carving his own path.

"He's as good as we've seen in this generation," Boone said of Judge, who is a seven-time All-Star, two-time MVP and the AL's single-season home run record holder, among other accolades.

Mets right-hander Kodai Senga was ineffective once again in Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Miami Marlins, leaving the door open for a potential change in the club’s rotation.

“We’ve got to get him right, obviously,” manager Carlos Mendoza said following the 5-1 loss, with Miami taking three of four in the series. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have some discussion about what’s next for him, but our job is to get him right. But it’s been a struggle, and again, we’ll see what’s next for him.”

As has been the case for most of his outings since coming off the IL in July, Senga struggled with his command, throwing just 43 of his 75 pitches for strikes as he went just 4.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking two.

“I think a lot of the things that we’ve seen the past couple of weeks or so where he’s having a hard time coming in the strike zone, a lot of uncompetitive pitches, ball out of the hand, and then he’s having a hard time competing in the strike zone,” Mendoza said of Senga’s issues. “We saw it today, every time he came in, they made him pay. On a slider there for a two-run homer [byAgustín Ramírez], they were aggressive, but it’s just executing and not getting ahead enough.

“When you get behind hitters, it’s hard to compete at this level.”

Senga echoed his manager’s thoughts, saying that while he feels healthy, he hasn't been able to perform that way he’d like to.

“There’s definitely some frustration,” Senga said through an interpreter. “I’ve never experienced something like this for this extended period of time. There’s some confusion why I’m not able to perform, but at the same time, when I’m able to prepare well and able to do what I’m capable of out there, I know that I’m able to put up a good performance.”

In nine starts since coming off the IL, Senga has allowed three runs or more six times, and he’s yet to complete 6.0 innings in any of those outings.

Mendoza explained that pitching coach Jeremy Heffner and his staff have been working to try to get Senga right for quite some time now, and with rosters expanding to 28 players on Monday, perhaps there’s a chance that the Mets, who are currently utilizing a six-man rotation, could choose to handle Senga’s next turn through the rotation differently.

“We’ve been trying to fix him for quite a bit now,” Mendoza said. “Whether it’s the mechanics, he says he feels fine physically, but we’re not seeing the results.”

The Yankees blew a late lead and chance to sweep the lowly Chicago White Sox, who scored three unanswered runs in the second half of Sunday's 3-2 final at Rate Field.

Takeaways

1. RHPLuis Gil's August ends with a solid outing but disappointing finish. He threw 98 pitches (63 strikes), yielded two runs on four hits, struck out seven and walked two in 5.1 IP. Gil's sixth-inning solo home run allowed to Colson Montgomery was costly, though, squandering New York's 2-1 lead with one out in the sixth inning and leaving the bullpen to sort through the final few frames. In six starts this month as he made his season debut and return from injury, Gil went 2-1 with a 3.75 ERA and 1.60 WHIP over 24 innings -- a welcome sign for the Yankees (76-61), but Sunday's finish should leave a sour taste into September.
2. CaptainAaron Judge's second home run in as many days, a first-inning solo shot that put New York on the board, ties him with legendary catcher Yogi Berra among all-time Yankees at 358 career home runs. Judge's 3-for-5 afternoon, which included his third-inning double and fifth-inning single, sees him slashing .324/.443/.674 with 43 home runs and 97 RBI in 127 games this season. He flew out with one out and Trent Grisham on first base in the ninth inning while New York trailed 3-2, which is unfortunate for him, but he otherwise showed up on a day where the Yankees only managed six hits.
3. LHPTim Hill allowing the go-ahead home run, a solo shot by Lenyn Sosa, with two outs in the eighth inning was the turning point for New York's late-game collapse. Hill (2.93 ERA, 1.09 WHIP), who allowed a run on three hits in this past Friday's 10-2 win, is trending the wrong way.
4. The Yankees' win streak snaps at seven games, and the recent victorious trend closed the gap with the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East, but these are ones that New York must have if it wants to play its way out of the wild card. Chicago (49-88) was dead in the water and now the Yankees are three games behind the Blue Jays (79-58) entering a three-game series at the AL West-leading Houston Astros (75-61). New York is 37-37 against teams over .500 this season.

Who's the MVP?

Sosa, who stepped up with the game on the line.

Highlights

ALL RISE!

Aaron Judge ties Yogi Berra for the fifth most home runs in Yankee history 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZpxHQwhwPN

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 31, 2025

Cody Bellinger brings home Aaron Judge 💪 pic.twitter.com/Nh8gSHgTyB

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 31, 2025

What's next

The Yankees have Monday off before they finish the second leg of their seven-game road trip with the Astros. New York LHP Max Fried (14-5, 3.06 ERA) is set to start Tuesday's 8:10 p.m. opener.

The Mets (73-64) fell to the Marlins (65-72) on Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-1, with Miami taking three of the series' four games in New York.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Kodai Senga has struggled since coming off of the IL in July, and Sunday was much of the same. Senga had a tough time throwing first-pitch strikes, and consistently falling behind hitters ultimately hurt him. Senga allowed a run in the first on some Marlins small ball, and then hung a breaking ball toAgustín Ramírez in the third, as the Marlins catcher lined a bullet two-run homer over the wall in left to put Miami up 3-0.

Miami would tack on additional runs in the fourth and fifth, and Senga's afternoon came to an end after 4.2 innings, as the right-hander allowed five earned runs on seven hits, striking out six and walking two. Senga threw 75 pitches, with just 43 going for strikes.

-- Former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara has had an up-and-down season for the Marlins, but he was back in All-Star form on Sunday, keeping the Mets off the board for his first six innings. Alcantara ended up going seven innings, allowing one earned run on four hits while striking out six and walking one.

-- There was a bit of a fracas in the bottom of the seventh, when Alcantara came inside and hit Mark Vientos with a pitch. Vientos and Alcantara shared some words, and the dugouts and bullpens emptied, but that's as far as things escalated. Both teams were warned after cooler heads prevailed.

-- It wasn't a day to remember for Mets hitters, but Jeff McNeil had a good one at the dish, recording two knocks against Alcantara. One of those was a seventh-inning single where McNeil later scored the Mets' first run of the game on a Cedric Mullins force-out.

All five Mets hits came from the first five in the order (Francisco Lindor,Juan Soto,Brandon Nimmo, and McNeil).

-- Tip of the hat to Brandon Waddell. Called up just before the game, the lefty saved the Mets' bullpen, following Senga by pitching 4.1 scoreless innings of relief. Waddell allowed just three hits, striking out four and walking two.

Game MVP

Alcantara, who stifled the Mets.

Highlights

Kodai Senga strikes out the side in the 2nd! pic.twitter.com/zn2eE9ek75

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2025

The benches and bullpens cleared after Sandy Alcántara hit Mark Vientos pic.twitter.com/A9JXpeFII3

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2025

Upcoming schedule

The Mets hit the road for a 10-game road trip, starting with three games in Detroit.

Sean Manaea will face veteran Charlie Morton with Monday's first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. on SNY.

So far, so good for Francisco Alvarez.

The Mets catcher continued his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday, catching and hitting third in the order. Alvarez played all nine innings behind the plate in a 3-0 win, going 1-for-5 with three strikeouts. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders did not attempt a stolen base against him.

According to manager Carlos Mendoza, Alvarez, who went 0-for-4 as the DH for Syracuse on Saturday, came out of that game feeling fine and is still moving in the right direction towards a return to the big leagues.

Alvarez will now have the day off on Monday with the rest of the Syracuse team, and then the team will have a decision to make about what comes next.

Could the next step be a return to the big leagues this week?

“At this point, nothing is going to surprise me or all of us in here,” said Mendoza. “It’s pretty remarkable what he’s doing. So, yeah, we’ll see how it goes today. Pretty sure he’s off tomorrow and then we’ll see what the next day is going to look like. But again, having him catch real games and how he’s going to feel afterwards is the biggest test.”

Alvarez has had a string of bad injury luck of late, all involving his hands. After tearing the UCL in his right thumb while sliding into second base earlier this month, Alvarez then broke his pinky finger in his left hand after getting hit by a pitch during his rehab assignment on Wednesday.

As Mendoza said, hitting doesn’t seem to be an issue for Alvarez at this point, but his ability to receive the ball with that fractured left pinky will determine how quickly he can get back in the Mets’ lineup.

Justin Verlander gives Giants vintage performance with gutsy win over Orioles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – After getting plenty of swing-and-misses from the Baltimore Orioles through the early part of his outing Sunday, Giants starter Justin Verlander opted to pitch more to contact as his afternoon was ending.

With a pitch count that had risen like a good tech stock, Verlander didn’t have much other choice.

“Toward the end there I was really just making pitches and trying to put the ball in play, and still got a lot of foul balls,” Verlander said after throwing 121 pitches over five scoreless innings in a 13-2 win over Baltimore in the final game of San Francisco’s homestand at Oracle Park. “You could definitely tell there was a little hit of fatigue setting in, but overall everything felt fine physically. Just tried to tone things down a little bit and tried to force some contact.”

Verlander looked a lot more like the pitcher with three Cy Young Awards at home rather than the guy whose first Giants season has had more ups and downs than an elevator.

Against the Orioles, Verlander had a day for the record books.

With 10 strikeouts, the 42-year-old became the oldest pitcher in franchise history to reach double-digit K’s, a title formerly held by Giants great Vida Blue.

Verlander also is the oldest pitcher in MLB to have 10 strikeouts and go five innings or longer since Roger Clemens did it with the Houston Astros in 2005.

The last pitcher in MLB to achieve that milestone was one-time Giant Randy Johnson, who was 18 days away from his 45th birthday when he did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008.

Giants manager Bob Melvin didn’t sound surprised at all by what he saw from Verlander.

“In a day when you feel like you’re penalizing somebody if they throw 100 pitches, to throw 120 in five innings … he didn’t want to hear anything about coming out,” Melvin said. “Here we are knocking on the door in September, and to do it like he’s doing it now, and throw that many pitches, it’s hard work. There’s a competitiveness to him that very few have.”

That same competitiveness probably is why Verlander didn’t make a big deal about his day.

The high pitch count and short outing was a bigger concern.

“It’s hard for me. The old school in me is like, ‘It was only five innings,’ ” Verlander said. “I’m not sure I’ll go home and say that was a great start.”

It might not have been great, but it definitely was vintage Verlander for much of the afternoon.

He gave up just three hits, pitched out of jams in the first two innings and overcame four walks. His fastball clocked in faster than it has been in recent games, and he generated a season-high 23 swing-and-misses out of the Orioles’ lineup.

It’s the first time this season that Verlander has won back-to-back starts, and it certainly sparked renewed belief from Giants fans.

San Francisco already has a solid one-two punch atop the rotation with Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Verlander now is firmly locked in as the No. 3 starter, which could give teams all kinds of problems if the Giants make it to the MLB playoffs.

Beyond the boxscores, Verlander’s season has been a good example for some of the Giants’ other pitchers.

Despite an arsenal of accolades that surely will land him in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Verlander suffered through some rough times earlier in this season but stayed committed to what he knew.

He didn’t flip out when things got tough and stuck to his process of trying to improve.

“It’s inspiring,” Carson Seymour toldNBC Sports Bay Area. “The best players, especially Justin, they’re always working on something, always trying to get better. That’s why he’s had the career he’s had.”

Verlander had to change things up to get this win. Normally heavily reliant on his fastball, the veteran pitcher went to his off-speed and breaking pitches to dazzle Baltimore’s hitters.

Even then, his pitch count kept steadily rising.

“They really battled [and had] a lot of foul balls,” Verlander said. “I’d rather not throw 120 in five innings. I’d rather it be seven, eight or nine.”

On Sunday, it didn’t really matter. It was the type of game that Verlander and all Giants fans have been hoping for since the day he signed with the team.

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