A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This millennia-old quote seems particularly applicable to the Yankees, for whom nothing seemed to go right during their four-game losing streak and wider 5-15 slump. Sometimes all you need is a little youthful exuberance, and that’s just what rookie revelation Ben Rice provided, his leadoff home run getting things started before a three-run blast put an exclamation mark on the Yankees’ seven-run fifth.
Rice wasn’t finished, as he crushed another three-run bomb in the seventh to become the first rookie in franchise history with three home runs in a game. His heroics gave the Yankees a much-needed bounce-back, come-from-behind victory, 14-4, to hopefully provide that first step back toward sustained good play.
After a one-two-three first on 19 pitches for Cole, Rice put an early charge into the team, crushing a hanging 2-2 cutter into the second deck in right for the Yankees’ second leadoff home run of the season.
The rookie has been one of the lone bright spots of the lineup in this new role as leadoff hitter, hitting his first big league home run against the Reds and reaching base twice last night. New York then loaded the bases with two outs in the second on walks by Jose Trevino and DJ LeMahieu bookending an Oswaldo Cabrera single, but Rice struck out to leave them stranded.
Cole faced a bit of resistance in the second, allowing singles to Enmanuel Valdez and Reese McGuire and walking Dominic Smith on a dubious no-swing check swing call to load the bases with two outs, but he managed to blow three heaters at 97 mph or faster by the free-swinging Ceddanne Rafaela for his third strikeout, stranding all three ducks on the pond.
The ace wouldn’t be so lucky in the third. Cole converted a pair of quick outs sandwiched around a David Hamilton double, but appeared to lose his concentration for a brief spell when two pitches at the top of the zone weren’t called strikes. That momentary lapse was all Rafael Devers needed, the third baseman lining a single to right to plate Hamilton as the tying run. Devers immediately stole second followed by a Valdez walk, after which Cole was helped by neither the BABIP gods nor his own defenders. Masataka Yoshida lifted a bloop single to left to plate Devers, and with no one covering third Valdez was able to advance to within 90 feet of home. He then walked home on an almost identical McGuire bloop single to left, and though an accurate Alex Verdugo throw to third beat Yoshida to the bag by four feet, DJ LeMahieu inexplicably missed the tag, forcing Cole to face another batter.
To their credit, the Yankees responded immediately in the bottom half. Aaron Judge broke an 0-for-12 streak with a 30-foot squibber down the third base line for an infield single, setting up a game-tying two-run blast to center by Alex Verdugo, his second big home run against his former team.
Cole seemed to fall into a groove following the second, at one point striking out five batters in a row including the side in the fourth. However, his nemesis Devers clipped him again in the fifth, this time crushing a solo shot over the Yankees bullpen and into the bleachers to allow Boston to retake the lead, 4-3. Cole wasn’t impressed by Devers’ celebration of the home run while rounding the bases, but to be fair Verdugo did the exact same thing on his trot in the third. It brought an end to Cole’s day; he allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings totaling 90 pitches.
As if fired up by watching Devers’ display, the Yankees bats came out firing in the bottom of the fifth. Judge and Verdugo reached on a pair of one-out singles, Judge then scoring the tying run on an Anthony Volpe double to center that one-hopped over the wall. The Red Sox then curiously issued an intentional walk to Trent Grisham to load the bases, prompting Aaron Boone to call on Austin Wells to pinch-hit for Jose Trevino. The move paid off, Wells drawing an impressive eight-pitch walk to push the go-ahead run across and keep the bases loaded. Cabrera followed with a sac fly and LeMahieu an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-4 and bring Rice to the plate.
The rookie wasted no time against reliever Chase Anderson, jumping on a middle-middle 1-0 changeup for a three-run blast into the Judge’s Chambers to put the Yankees into double-digits.
The pièce de résistance of Rice’s historic performance came two innings later. Grisham doubled to lead off the seventh, advanced to third on a Cabrera single, and scored on LeMahieu’s second RBI single of the contest. Again Rice stepped to the plate with a pair on and again he crushed a middle-middle mistake to right, becoming the first rookie in franchise history with a three-homer game while joining Alex Rodriguez, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Mike Stanley, Tony Lazzeri, and Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees with three-plus home runs and seven-plus RBIs in a game.
That would conclude the scoring for the day, the final highlight coming when Josh Maciejewski struck out the side in the eighth. Lefty Tim Hill got to take the win in this one, as he threw 2.2 innings of no-hit, shutout ball in relief of Cole, saving the bullpen a bit as well.
A dominant 14-4 victory like this could be just the spark to ignite the Yankees’ second half, and they look to get back in the series win column tomorrow with Luis Gil facing Kutter Crawford in the rubber match. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm ET with the broadcast on ESPN.
