The Yankees avoided a three-game sweep to the Rays, with a 2-1 win to snap a three-game losing streak, as Aaron Judge provided most of the offense with a homer and a double in front of a sell-out crowd of 25,025 at Tropicana Field. 

And the Yankees got a break to finish the game. With the Rays having scored a run and the potential winning run on second, Clay Holmes struck out Yandy Diaz looking on a pitch that appeared to be low. 

The Yankees got their lead in the AL East back to five games — and four in the loss column — over Tampa Bay, thanks in part to five shutout innings from Frankie Montas. 

“It does feel bigger,” Aaron Boone said after the Yankees avoided having their lead in the East cut to three games, which it hasn’t been since May 9. 

“With what we’re going through, to get a big, tough win on the road against a team we’re fighting with for the division is huge at this time of year,’’ Boone said.

Edwin Díaz struck out Gavin Lux on a 102 mph fastball to escape a jam in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets beat the major league-best Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3.

Francisco Lindor hit a tying double in the sixth against Chris Martin (4-1) and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Darin Ruf after the Mets were held to one hit in five innings by Clayton Kershaw, who made his first start since Aug. 4.

NL East-leading New York took two of three from Los Angeles, its first series win against the Dodgers since Sept. 3-5, 2011. LA lost consecutive games for the first time since July 25-26.

Chris Bassitt (12-7) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings for his fifth straight victory, matching his win total from last season with Oakland. He departed after the Mets took a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

New York led 5-2 when Díaz opened the eighth by walking Freddie Freeman and plunking Will Smith. Freeman scored on Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly. Díaz then escaped by whiffing Lux on the hardest pitch of his career.

Kevin Durant is staying with the Brooklyn Nets weeks after publicly requesting a trade away from the team.

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant has rescinded his request to be traded ahead of the upcoming NBA season.

Durant and his longtime business manager Rich Kleiman met with Nets management and “decided to move forward with partnership.” 

The meeting included Durant, Kleiman, Nets team governor Joe Tsai, general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.

Marks addressed the meeting in a statement: “We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn.”

The Nets will be viewed as contenders in the Eastern Conference with a committed Durant, alongside guard Kyrie Irving and versatile forward Ben Simmons, whom the Nets acquired at last season’s trade deadline.

Nick Saban will once again become the highest-paid coach in college football after the approval of a new contract with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Alabama board of trustees compensation approved a new, eight-year, $93.6 million contract for Saban, 70, which will include an average salary of $11.7 million over the length of the deal.

Saban will make $10.7 million during the 2022 college football season and $12.7 million in 2029, the final year of the reported deal.

The seven-time national champion coach was previously set to be paid $9.9 million in 2022 as part of a three-year extension agreement made ahead of the 2021 season, which was set to run through the 2028 season.

With over a month left in the season, Aaron Judge hit the 50-homer mark for the second time in his career.

With his one-out blast in the top of the eighth against the Angels at Angel Stadium, Judge became just the 10th player in MLB history to have multiple seasons with at least 50 home runs.

He also reached the milestone in 2017, when Judge hit 52 as a rookie.

Judge’s next challenge — in addition to battling the Angels Shohei Ohtani for AL MVP — will be making a run at Roger Maris’ American League and franchise record of 61 homers, set 61 years ago in 1961.

Judge’s home run was greeted with loud cheers from the announced sellout crowd on Monday night, which was filled with Yankee fans — who booed loudly when Judge was walked twice intentionally earlier in the game.

Baskin-Robbins introduces a new flavor with the launch of Totally Unwrapped ice cream.

Inspired by a classic candy bar, Totally Unwrapped is loaded with layers of fudge covered pretzels, fudge-and caramel-covered peanuts and caramel swirled through peanut butter and chocolate ice creams.

In addition to the new flavor, Baskin-Robbins is also welcoming back the Hopscotch the Bunny ice cream cake. Available for a limited time and handcrafted in-store, the customablze dome-shaped cottontail cake features white chocolate bunny ears and feet, surrounded by a bed of grass made of sweet icing and colorful sprinkles.

Totally Unwrapped ice cream and the Hopscotch the Bunny ice cream cake can be found at participating Baskin-Robbins locations nationwide.

Buck Showalter loves to say that as long as the Mets’ offense has an out remaining, they have a chance to win. 

That resilience was on display once again Friday night at Citi Field, as Showalter’s first-place team pulled out its 81st win with yet another late rally, this time for a 7-6 victory over the Rockies — on Pete Alonso’s RBI single in the ninth inning. 

“Everybody has that ability for comebacks, but whether you can tap into it is another thing,” the manager said. “When momentum changes, we talk about it all the time, and they talk about it, stay in the moments.”  

“Whatever happened, happened, and you can’t do anything about it. Let’s go ahead and move to the next challenge, and they’ve done it all year. The job description requires it here.” 

“You’d like to think ahead a little bit, because of the pace they’re on and where we’re at, too,” Aaron Judge said, “but we got to get there first.”

Judge hit a 453-foot drive halfway up the bleachers for his major league-leading 48th home run and added an RBI single during a seventh-inning rally, boosting the New York Yankees past the Mets on Tuesday night for their second straight 4-2 win and a two-game sweep.

The Yankees turned a pair of sparkling 6-4-3 double plays, Andrew Benintendi came through with another big hit and rookie right fielder Oswaldo Cabrera made three key contributions. The go-ahead rally was boosted by a fluky popup that dropped for a single, and fans stood for nearly 20 minutes in the ninth inning anticipating the final out.

If this is what the regular season Subway Series was like, then imagine the Yankees and Mets meeting in October for baseball’s biggest prize.

Leon Edwards dropped Kamaru Usman with a kick to the head and neck in the final minute of the fifth round to win the welterweight championship at UFC 278 on Saturday night.

Usman appeared to be seconds away from a 16th consecutive victory, which would have tied an all-time UFC record, before Edwards came up with the stunning finish just in time. He delivered the knockout blow with 56 seconds left in the bout.

“That crosshead kick landed perfectly,” Edwards said.

Edwards (20-3) is undefeated dating back to his previous bout with Usman in 2015. The British fighter rose to No. 2 in the welterweight division while accumulating nine wins in that stretch ahead of the title bout.

Pete Alonso has been at his best when it matters the most, raising his play when the moment calls for it.

After the Mets dropped three of four to the Braves this week, the division matchup against the rising Phillies that began Friday night certainly mattered, and so the first baseman responded.

Alonso passed the 100 RBI mark and crushed his 30th home run of the season to jump-start the Mets in a 7-2 victory at Citizens Bank Park.

The Mets bounced back nicely after those four games in Atlanta, in which they lost a series to an NL East opponent for the first time this year. With a 77-43 record, they remained 3 games up on the Braves, who beat the Astros on Friday.

“He wants to be everything for us every night,” manager Buck Showalter said of Alonso, who went 2-for-5 and finished the night tied with Aaron Judge for the major league lead with 102 RBIs. “He takes pride in his defense, in his driving in runs.”