Ben Rice worked a 3-2 count, turned on a Braydon Fisher slider, and sent it 381 feet into the right-field seats at Rogers Centre. The New York Yankees -- which had spent six innings watching a comfortable lead evaporate -- walked out of Toronto with an 8-3 win and a series victory.
The final score looks like it was never in doubt. It really was.
The Ninth Inning Fixed Everything
They came in having needed a walk-off the night before. Sunday wasn't going to be any cleaner.
Tied 3-3 in the ninth, Paul Goldschmidt rolled a soft grounder to Fisher. Simple play. Fisher threw it away. Goldschmidt (or rather Ryan McMahon, who had just replaced him as a pinch runner) ended up on second, and suddenly the Yanks had something to work with.
Spencer Jones had led off the inning by striking out swinging, so there was one out and a 3-3 score when Rice stepped in. He fell behind. He fought back. Fisher left a slider up and Rice didn't miss it -- 381 feet, to the right-field seats, McMahon in ahead of him. 5-3.
Jasson Domínguez walked. Cody Bellinger flied out. Then Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- who'd done nothing but walk and make the Blue Jays' pitchers nervous all afternoon -- drew another one, and José Caballero saw one pitch from Tommy Nance and deposited it in center. 8-3. Ball game.
Rice Is the Story
Rice went 2-for-5 with his 19th home run of the season and 2 RBI, and he's hitting .293 with a .611 slugging percentage at the start of June. The home run was his team-leading 19th, and it came in the only moment that mattered -- game tied, late, with a pitcher who'd been shaky trying to get through a lineup for the second time around.
He struck out twice earlier. He also, when it counted, worked a full count and hit a baseball 381 feet. That's the Ben Rice contract year (if he had one -- he doesn't yet, but the clock is ticking on when the Yankees figure this out).
How We Got Here
Anthony Volpe did the work that set the table before anyone knew there was a table to set.
In the second, Max Schuemann doubled to left (his 4th of the year) and Volpe dropped a line drive into center to score him. 1-0. Then Ali Sánchez drove a sharp double to center that scored Volpe. 2-0. First hit as a Yankee for Sánchez, first RBI too. Good timing.
Toronto chipped away. Kazuma Okamoto singled in Nathan Lukes in the third to make it 2-1. Then in the fourth, Lukes singled home Ernie Clement and the Blue Jays had tied it at two.
Volpe gave the lead back in the sixth -- another line drive to left, another run scored, another example of a shortstop doing quiet, reliable things (3-2 Yankees). Then Davis Schneider -- one out in, Ernie Clement having just flied out -- took a pitch from Jake Bird to center for a solo shot. Tied again. 3-3.
That's where it stayed until Rice broke it open.
Doval and the Art of Holding
Camilo Doval pitched the eighth with the game tied and was absolutely immaculate -- two strikeouts, no hits, and the kind of inning that earns you a 3-0 record when you never throw a single pitch with the lead in your pocket. He's a weapon, and Boone used him at the right moment.
Will Warren started and gave the Yankees four innings, which sounds adequate until you look at the line: eight hits, three walks, one strikeout on 98 pitches. He gave up two runs and somehow no more than that, which is something, but he wasn't getting through a lineup the third time. Fortunately, the bullpen didn't need him to.
Schneider Out, Chisholm In
Blue Jays manager John Schneider got ejected in the eighth arguing a balk call on Jeff Hoffman. The Toronto bullpen eventually allowed five runs in the ninth anyway, so the ejection didn't change the outcome -- it just meant Schneider had to watch the ending from the runway.
Chisholm Jr. entered as a pinch hitter in the middle innings and didn't collect a single official at-bat. He drew three walks, stole two bases, and scored a run. (The Blue Jays walked him three times. Three times.) The man doesn't need a hit to be a problem.
What's Next
The Yankees head home at 43-27, first in the AL East by 1.5 games over Tampa Bay, and they've now won seven games this year when scoring the go-ahead run in the ninth inning or later. They're figuring out how to win when it's ugly. That tends to matter in October.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
