It’s been a charmed season for Ben Rice. After an encouraging but inconsistent cup of coffee last year that wasn’t enough to earn a role on the Yankees’ playoff roster, he emerged as one of the most promising young hitters in baseball, first as a designated hitter while Giancarlo Stanton recovered from tennis elbows and then while splitting time with Paul Goldschmidt at first and Austin Wells behind the plate.
Despite his success, the All-MLB team finalist was one of three left-handed regulars — alongside
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon — held out of the lineup for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series Tuesday. As the Red Sox deftly navigated the game while using solely southpaws Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman, Rice remained on the bench in a crushing defeat. While Chisholm’s benching was the most controversial of the three, manager Aaron Boone and Yankees brass drew ire for not using Rice, who had a .932 OPS in September, as well.
On Wednesday night, in a do-or-die game, Rice drew the start at first and, with it, a chance to show his value. He didn’t wait long.
After a two-out single off the bat of Cody Bellinger, the Massachusetts native took Boston starter Bryan Bello deep on the first postseason pitch of his career, smoking a poorly placed cutter 106.6 mph 364 feet over the right field porch. After scoring just one run in Game 1, it was a battle cry, not only staking the Yankees to a two-run lead out of the gates but firing up the home crowd to help the team utilize their home-field advantage. ESPN’s senior MLB insider, Jeff Passan, was among those who saw the opening salvo as a rebuke of the decision to Rice out of the lineup Tuesday.
The two-run shot did not start an onslaught on offense, nor was it all the damage the Yankees would need to secure what would be a nail-biting victory. But it proved crucial at each point in the game. When the Red Sox scored two in the third off starter Carlos Rodón, it merely tied the game instead of giving them the early lead. The same was true in the sixth when, after the Yankees scored one to pull ahead, Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story knotted the game with a solo blast to left. And it set the stage for the high drama that came in the late innings, when Chisholm raced around the bases to score the go-ahead run in the eighth and David Bednar closed out the ninth on a Ceddanne Rafaela liner to right field that forced hearts to skip a beat all over the Bronx.
Rice was sharp all game. In the third, with runners on second and third and two outs, the first baseman smoked a 1-2 cutter, this one off left-hander and former Yankee Justin Wilson, 109.4 mph to right, a tantalizing laser beam that smacked harmlessly into the glove of Nate Eaton.
He added another hit in his third at-bat, a dribbler to third against another lefty — Steven Matz — that took advantage of a shift to stake the Yankees a leadoff baserunner of whom they were unable to take advantage.
An awful lot happened after Ben Rice’s booming home run in the first that was integral to the outcome of Game 2. Nonetheless, the rookie’s shot was the most crucial because without it everything that followed would have been moot. He set the tone for an electric, nail-biting victory that’s brought the Yankees to within one win of advancing to the ALDS.
