Rizzo, Yanks hit ‘low point,’ fall to 1-4 since break
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Aaron Judge changed into his street clothes and briefly sat on a folding chair in front of his locker on Tuesday night, more than four hours removed from the only baseball activities his injured toe will allow. It was another loss absorbed within another somber, muted New York Yankees clubhouse, where the only sounds were those of teammates trying to publicly explain why they still can’t figure out how to win without their best player.
“The mood’s down, for sure,” Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo said after a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, his team’s third in a row and fifth in the last six games. “I think we all expect — we definitely all expect — better of ourselves, individually and as a team. And it’s OK to be down right now. It’s a close group. This is a low point. We’ve been battling, but this is part of it.”
The Yankees began their second half by dropping two of three to a Colorado Rockies team that was on pace to lose 100 games for the first time in franchise history, then flew from Denver to Orange County, California, to face an Angels team that had lost 11 of its previous 13 games and lost to them on back-to-back nights. The Yankees were blanked by Chase Anderson and his 6.89 ERA on Sunday, then managed three runs in a combined 13 innings against Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval, two members of an Angels rotation that had struggled mightily throughout July.
Since Judge sprained his right big toe on the concrete portion of the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium on June 3, the Yankees’ offense has produced the majors’ third-lowest OPS (.658) and third-fewest runs per game (3.78). On Monday night, in the midst of suffering consecutive walk-off losses in extra innings for the first time in 22 years, they struck out 17 times and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Twenty-four hours later, they produced one hit through the first seven innings.
The Yankees were 10 games above .500 when Judge went down and have gone 15-21 ever since.
“That’s what the story is,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We can correct it. We have the players to do it. We have the players with track record to do it. I understand that’s the story, and it’s fair for this year. We’ve been through stretches in ’19 when we were down Judge and [Giancarlo Stanton] and kept on banging. Those guys in that clubhouse are very capable. It’s coincided, obviously, with the game’s best player out, so that’s the story. But we’re capable. Still. We got to find it. It’s as simple as that. And I know that’s a broken record, I know it’s a boring answer – we got to find it.”
At 50-46, the Yankees still possess a better record than every team in the American League Central. But they’re in last place in their own division, the AL East, deeper into a season than they have been since 1990, a year that ended with 95 losses.
Rizzo, Stanton, D.J. LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson, the latter of whom is out indefinitely with a significant calf strain, have combined for 14 All-Star appearances but have slashed just .220/.298/.394 this season, producing a .692 OPS that sits 39 points below the league average. It’s why Boone scoffed when asked if it’s time to accept the possibility that this is simply what this time is.
“No,” he said. “No, no. There’s no quit in it. We got to fight. We got really good players in there, and a lot of guys who are going through a tough, tough stretch. For some probably as tough a stretch as they’ve been in their career. You don’t take your ball and go home. You stick your nose in there and you grind it out. And you compete your ass off. We’re doing that, they’re doing that. They’re not leaving any stone unturned. It’s not from a lack of work and focus and conversations.”
The Yankees have already lost four series this month, also dropping ones to the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, two National League Central teams that will part with veteran players before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The Yankees, a week removed from hiring Sean Casey as their new hitting coach, consider themselves buyers before the deadline but don’t have the look of a team that is only a piece or two away from championship contention.
They’re banking on an imminent return from Judge, who has been taking batting practice and doing light defensive work on the field before games. And the returns of starting pitcher Nestor Cortes and relief pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga shortly thereafter.
But the active players have to figure it out themselves.
“This is part of the journey,” Rizzo said, his team nine games out of first place but only 2 1/2 games back of the final wild-card spot. “This is the story of the 2023 season, and this is what we’re dealt with, these are the cards in front of us, and we just got to keep playing.”
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Dave Wilson
AUSTIN, Texas — A week after Arch Manning struggled in a loss at Ohio State, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian saw his quarterback bounce back in a 38-7 win over San Jose State and said this game showcased more of Manning’s style.
Manning matched a career high with four touchdown passes, going 19-of-30 for 295 yards, and added a 20-yard touchdown scramble, tiptoeing down the left sideline at the end of the third quarter.
“I thought today was a by-product of the week of work. He played aggressive throughout the week. He studied the game plan. He knew exactly what we were trying to do, and I thought today he played more of his style,” Sarkisian said. “He extended plays, used his legs, scrambles for a touchdown. That’s the style of player that he is.”
On several plays, Manning rolled out and found receivers. A few of his passes were dropped, with Sarkisian saying Texas “didn’t catch the ball great for him.” But Sarkisian was pleased that Manning made plays when things broke down.
“Him playing his game and not trying to play at somebody else’s style of game, I think it is important for him,” Sarkisian said.
Manning also threw a bad interception while under pressure, heaving the ball into double coverage from the Spartans’ 14-yard line. San Jose State defenders had a shot at picking off a couple of his other throws but failed to haul them in.
“A lot to work on,” Manning said. “I thought it was sloppy for my part. Can’t turn the ball over in the red area. I’ve got to play better. I think all around, it was a little sloppy.”
Manning started slowly, going 3-of-6 for 11 yards on his first two drives. But then, on a third-and-3 with 2:52 left in the first quarter, Manning found Parker Livingstone along the left sideline, and he turned it upfield for an 83-yard touchdown.
The touchdown throw was part of a stretch where Manning went 5-for-5 for 142 yards and four touchdowns, including TDs on three consecutive passing attempts — a 3-yarder to Livingstone, then 36- and 16-yarders to tight end Jack Endries.
“Anytime you can get points on the board after a slow start, it feels good,” Manning said. “Then, [we] finally got some rhythm. Defense started stepping up, too, so we’ve just got to start quicker next week.”
The Longhorns, who committed 12 penalties for 115 yards, have four new offensive line starters, and many new players at wide receiver and tight end. And even Texas stars such as edge rusher Colin Simmons (two penalties for offsides, one for roughing the passer) didn’t perform their best.
“I think as our team in general goes, this is not the best version of Texas football this season that we’re going to see,” Sarkisian said. “My foot’s got to get in their butt here on Monday morning. That’s unacceptable. And there’s a standard in which we want to play the game, and 12 penalties does not meet that standard.”
Manning said all week that he had to play better for Texas to win. He was encouraged by his performance Saturday, finding a way to make plays, but doesn’t believe he’s at his best.
Sarkisian said Manning is gifted with his dual-threat abilities, but his team is learning on the fly how to block for him while he’s scrambling or that he could throw while on the move.
“There’s things that we’re learning as we go as a team, but those are some of the growing pains that we have to work through,” Sarkisian said.
Those growing pains still resulted in an easy win at home Saturday. For Sarkisian, he said he can see the trust growing among his players, including Manning.
“The guys rally around him, you can feel it today on the sidelines,” Sarkisian said. “They really like playing with Arch, and that’s important.”
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Andrea Adelson
The father of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard was on the sideline Saturday for the Seminoles’ game against East Texas A&M.
Earl Pritchard and another family member were on the sideline wearing his son’s No. 35 jersey. Ethan Pritchard remains hospitalized in Tallahassee after surviving a gunshot wound to the head last weekend.
Prayers up. pic.twitter.com/NCTZyoxiTV
— Warchant.com (@Warchant) September 6, 2025
Florida State safety Earl Little Jr. brought out a No. 35 jersey to midfield for the coin toss, and Florida State players wore No. 35 wristbands to honor their teammate.
All Garnet with the Gold lids
Continuing to think about Ethan 🙏🏼#NoleFamily | #KeepCLIMBing pic.twitter.com/FD6GSNpo5F
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) September 6, 2025
#NoleFamily 🍢 pic.twitter.com/HSTjx9e7xp
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) September 6, 2025
Defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. wore a T-shirt with Pritchard’s face on it during pregame warmups.
According to Earl Pritchard, Ethan Pritchard was driving his aunt home when he was shot in the back of the head in Havana, Florida, 16 miles from Tallahassee, on Sunday night.
The Seminoles routed East Texas A&M 77-3 on Saturday, after which coach Mike Norvell presented Earl Pritchard with the game ball, and asked him to break the rock – a tradition generally given to the player of the game after each Seminoles victory.
💛♥️ #NoleFamily pic.twitter.com/kg2kJtMNRA
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) September 6, 2025
Norvell grew emotional as he discussed Pritchard during his postgame media availability.
“The way that he plays the game … he loves it, he absolutely loves it. To know that right now that’s taken away from him in a senseless act, you don’t always know why you have to go through things in life but I do believe God has his hand over Ethan and this football team,” Norvell said.
“To have Earl here today – He’s a wonderful man, and being with him I know it’s so very hard. I know it’s hard for anybody to have to go through, but he told me early in this week, ‘I know where my boy wants to be so I’m going to go stand in his place for him.'”
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