Yankees 12, Rays 4, and Ben Rice spent the afternoon depositing baseballs into different corners of Tropicana Field.
Rice went deep twice, drove in five, and turned what looked like another rough afternoon in Tampa into a laugher. The New York Yankees had dropped two of the first three games in this series, got shut out Wednesday, and looked like they might limp out of Florida with nothing to show for it. Instead they scored six runs in the third inning alone and never looked back.
The Turning Point
Down 1-0 after Junior Caminero's two-out homer in the first off Paul Blackburn, the Yankees turned the top of the third into batting practice. Ryan McMahon doubled home Max Schuemann, Trent Grisham singled home McMahon, and then Rice made it 4-1 with a two-run shot to right -- one that needed an umpire review to confirm it actually cleared the fence. José Caballero and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each drove in a run before the inning was over, and by the time Drew Rasmussen left the mound, the Rays' bullpen phone was already ringing.
Six runs, seven different Yankees reaching base, one shaky call upheld. That's an inning.
Star of the Game: Ben Rice
Rice finished 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI, and neither swing was cheap. The first (his 27th of the season) came off Rasmussen in the third. The second (his 28th) came in the sixth off Casey Legumina, a three-run blast to center that turned a manageable 7-3 game into a laugher at 10-3.
Twenty-eight homers now puts Rice second in the American League, one behind Houston's Yordan Alvarez, and he'll get to keep swinging for the fences on a bigger stage soon. Rice and Rays counterpart Caminero are both headed to the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia next week (small consolation for Tampa Bay: at least their guy gets to hit too).
Wells Snaps a Long Drought
Austin Wells hadn't gone deep since May 22 -- 23 games without a home run for the catcher -- and he picked a fitting opponent to end it against (his last one came against the Rays too). His solo shot in the fourth made it 7-3 and was one of six different Yankees who drove in a run on the day.
McMahon added a second RBI double in the seventh and finished 2-for-5. Cody Bellinger capped the scoring with an eighth-inning single that brought Rice around for the twelfth and final run.
A Bullpen Game, and Then Some
On the mound, the Yankees ran a full bullpen game -- Paul Blackburn opened with two innings, and six different relievers followed him to the finish line. Ryan Yarbrough got the win despite throwing just one inning of it (that's the kind of day it was), and Angel Chivilli was the sharpest of the bunch, striking out three over two hitless innings.
Rasmussen took the loss, chased in the third after allowing six runs on seven hits in just 2.1 innings. Things got bad enough for Tampa Bay that infielder Ben Williamson, who'd already driven in a run with his bat, came out to pitch the ninth. When your position player is closing out a 12-4 game, you already know how the day went.
The win salvages a split in a series the Yankees could have lost outright, and it comes without Aaron Judge, still on the injured list with that rib fracture and still waiting on updated scans. New York sits at 51-42, four games back of the AL East-leading Rays, with a healthy cushion in the wild card race and a three-game set in Washington up next before the All-Star break.
Go watch Rice do it again in Philadelphia next week.
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.
