NEW YORK – Ben Rice’s third homer on Saturday came with a request.
On a steamy afternoon at Yankee Stadium, the crowd asked Rice for a curtain call, and the rookie first baseman – in a bit of a daze – finally answered with a wave of his helmet on the dugout’s top step.
Amid a brutal stretch for the Yankees, they needed something to break the mounting tension created by 14 losses in their previous 18 games.
Rice showed them a path with a leadoff homer in the first, then delivered a three-run shot to cap a seven-run fifth, on the way to a 14-4 win against the rival Red Sox.
“Definitely a day I’ll never forget,’’ said Rice. “I was pumped that it was a big-time win for us, good bounce back win and over my hometown team. Pretty cool.’’
Yes, Rice was already fully versed in The Rivalry as a Yankees fan growing up in Eastern Massachusetts, attending games at Fenway Park and being scouted out of Dartmouth by both teams as a catcher/first baseman.
Ben Rice enters Yankees’ record book, receives curtain call
A 12th-round pick in 2021, Rice was starting just his 12th big-league game, his third as the Yankees’ leadoff hitter.
In the seventh, Rice etched his name into Yankees history with another three-run shot – becoming the first rookie in franchise history to club three home runs in one game, per Elias.
Both three-run homers Saturday were belted off Boston reliever Chase Anderson, and Rice was still giddy from the last one, making it a bit disorienting when “everyone’s kind of yelling at me to do something.”
That’s when a beaming Rice was guided by his teammates toward the dugout steps, where he quickly acknowledged the standing ovation from 45,504 fans.
“Thankfully got it in,” said Rice. “That was pretty awesome.”
At age 25, Rice is the youngest Yankee with a three-homer game since Bobby Murcer, at age 24 in 1970, and his seven RBI Saturday matched Lou Gehrig for the most by a Yankees rookie in one game.
“Obviously, we’re going through it and we’ll take any kind of success really,’’ said Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. “It’s a little bit greater than that – it’s an historic day, a magical day.
“And to be honest, I’m pretty thankful I get to be on the lineup card because I know he’ll remember it forever.’’
A breakthrough game for Ben Rice at just the right moment
Until the Yankees batted around in the fifth, a feeling of doom still hung about the Bronx.
Friday night’s loss was still a fresh wound, with the Yankees one strike away from a much-needed victory – only to fall in 10 innings due to a pair of two-run homers.
DJ LeMahieu, looking aged since his spring training foot fracture, was batting .175, and the club’s baserunning gaffes and fielding miscues were piling up – sending the Yanks three games behind AL East-leading Baltimore entering Saturday.
Taxed by a rising pitch count, Cole did not make it out of Saturday’s fifth inning, exiting in a 4-3 deficit after yielding a homer to – who else? – Rafael Devers.
In 39 career at-bats against Cole, Devers is now batting .333 with eight home runs after collecting an RBI single in a three-run third and a go-ahead solo homer that ended Cole’s day in the fifth.
“It was a grind,’’ Cole said of his 90-pitch effort, his fourth start off the IL (elbow nerve irritation).
As for Devers, “he can hit out any pitch,’’ and proved it again on a 1-1 fastball driven an estimated 441 feet to left-center.
Devers took his time around the bases, and gave a theatrical wave to ex-teammate Alex Verdugo, who could’ve been timed with a sundial on his game-tying, third-inning home run trot.
Before the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said there’s “no denying this has been an awful stretch for us,’’ punctuated by Friday’s nightmare loss.
The idea was to “keep the focus small,’’ winning pitches and at-bats.
And that strategy worked in the pivotal fifth, which included a Verdugo bunt single, an RBI double by Anthony Volpe, and a go-ahead pinch-hit bases loaded walk by Austin Wells.
LeMahieu (2-for-3, walk) contributed an RBI single after missing an RBI chance his previous at-bat with the infield in, and Rice iced it with a shot to the second deck in right.
“Hopefully, it’s a step in the right direction for us,’’ said Rice, before retreating to his locker to begin sifting through scores of congratulatory texts.
