Before Ben Rice turned pro, the Cohasset, Massachusetts native said two teams showed the most interest in him: the one he rooted for and the one he lived the closest to.
“It was either gonna be the Red Sox or the Yankees probably that picked me,” said Rice, who cheered for the latter despite living 45 minutes from Boston. “Those are the two teams that I knew liked me the most.”
The Red Sox missed their chance to convert the 25-year-old when the Yankees used a 12th round pick on Rice in 2021 after the pandemic cost him most of his college career at Dartmouth. Rice revealed that on Saturday after becoming the first Yankees rookie to hit three home runs in one game.
He did so in a 14-4 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
“That’s pretty cool to know,” Rice said. “Obviously, very humbling to be part of an organization with as many legends as we have. So that’s pretty cool to hear.”
Rice mentioned that a lot of his friends naturally root for the Red Sox. He hadn’t had a chance to check his phone by the time he spoke with reporters, but he assumed some conflicted text messages were waiting for him.
“Anytime you get to be a part of a rivalry like this, it’s pretty special,” Rice said. “So to kind of have a little bit extra stock in it because I’m from Boston made it even more cool.”
Rice added that he went to a lot of Yankees-Red Sox games as a kid. He dared to wear his old school Yankees jacket to Fenway Park, and he even signed the Pesky Pole with the inscription “Yankees rule.”
On Saturday, Rice’s power surge – he also had seven RBI – helped the Bombers snap a four-game losing streak.
The first baseman gave his team an elusive early edge, hitting the second home run of his career to Yankee Stadium’s second deck in the opening inning. The leadoff shot against Josh Winckowski traveled 390 feet, but Rice unleashed a bigger blast in the fifth.
With Chase Anderson on the mound, Rice capped a seven-run inning with a 406-foot, three-run homer.
The third missile came in the seventh, when Rice launched another three-run homer of equal distance. Once again, Anderson fell victim.
BEN RICE, THIRD HOME RUN OF THE DAY, 14-4 YANKEES! pic.twitter.com/e433DqqfUE
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) July 6, 2024
“What a game,” Aaron Boone said. “In the midst of what we’re going through, to come out and set the tone right away in the first inning with a homer and then put together a legendary day was just really big time.”
Yankees fans recognized and appreciated Rice’s efforts as well, as they summoned him for a curtain call after his last home run.
Rice wasn’t quite sure how to react. Fortunately for him, teammates offered encouragement and instruction before he tipped his helmet.
“It all was happening so fast,” said Rice, who also hit three homers in game while playing summer ball in 2019. “I was still just coming off the high of hitting the home run. I was just walking through the dugout and then I just hear everyone kind of yelling at me to do something. I didn’t even know what they were talking about, but then as they slowly guided me toward the steps, it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m doing a curtain call. That’s pretty cool.’ So thankfully, I got it in. That was pretty awesome.”
A curtain call for @Yankees rookie Ben Rice, who has a 3-homer day! pic.twitter.com/WhhMbEWWRU
— MLB (@MLB) July 6, 2024
Only 17 games into his big league career, Rice has given the Yankees a jolt after the team received little production from the injured Anthony Rizzo at first. Rice, three games into his leadoff duties, is now hitting .294 with a .971 OPS.
He only played in 11 games at Triple-A before his debut, but the lefty-swinger has found success by trusting his patient approach.
“The game hasn’t changed,” Rice said. “Bases are still in all the same spots. So that’s allowed me to hit the ground running a little bit here.”
Rice didn’t exactly run after his second home run, though. Instead, he took a moment to admire the dinger after the Yankees and Red Sox seemed salty over some home run trots earlier in the game.
That began with Alex Verdugo’s two-run bomb to Monument Park in the third inning. It was the outfielder’s first home run since June 14, when he went deep against his former employer in Boston. Verdugo more than enjoyed that homer at Fenway.
He did the same on Saturday, chucking his bat into the air before taking a 32-second jog around the bases.
Alex Verdugo took a solid 10 seconds to get to first base pic.twitter.com/gRvHQMePH7
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 6, 2024
Boston’s Rafael Devers celebrated in a similar manner after he hit a solo homer off Gerrit Cole in the fifth. With the ball clearly gone, Devers held the finish on his swing before throwing his bat and screaming toward the Boston dugout.
As Devers took his time getting out of the box, Cole stared the slugger down with the Yankees losing 4-3.
After the game, Cole downplayed having an issue with Devers’ theatrics.
“As a pitcher, if you don’t want him to watch a home run [and] trot, then you probably shouldn’t give up a home run” the righty said.
Rafael Devers PIMPED his home run and Gerrit Cole did not like it pic.twitter.com/ymPGvNx5e8
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 6, 2024
Meanwhile, Boone didn’t have any qualms with Verdugo or Devers. Nor did he have any problems with any unhappy reactions to the celebrations.
“We see that a lot in the game today,” the manager said. “Players react in different ways. I’m from the generation that we didn’t do that kind of stuff. All is kind of fair nowadays. I think it’s kind of accepted, and that’s okay. But when you’re out there competing, I have no problem with Gerrit being ticked off by it, and I have no problem with someone else being ticked off if you feel like you’re getting showed up or whatever.”
Devers has been a thorn in Cole’s side, as the third baseman now has eight career homers off the reigning Cy Young. No other player has hit more than four.
Earlier, in the third, Devers picked up an RBI single off Cole for the 1,000th hit of his career. That tied the game at one before RBI singles from Masataka Yoshida and Reese McGuire gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead prior to Verdugo’s jack.
Cole’s day ended after Devers’ homer. He totaled 4.1 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, two walks, eight strikeouts and 90 pitches in his fourth start of the season.
Boone and the ace said that the heat and long innings took a toll on Cole, especially early in the game. However, Cole was more excited to talk about Rice’s performance.
“It’s a historical day, a magical day,” Cole said. “To be honest, I’m pretty thankful that I get to be on the lineup card because I know he will remember it forever.”
Before Rice’s homer in the fifth, an Anthony Volpe ground-rule double tied the game at four. Austin Wells, pinch-hitting for Jose Trevino, then worked a walk with the bases loaded before an Oswaldo Cabrera lineout brought another run in. DJ LeMahieu then knocked an RBI single.
The struggling veteran repeated the feat in the seventh.
“We put up a ton of runs today,” Rice said with the Yankees looking to win their first series in weeks on Sunday. “As offenses get going, those good at-bats are all contagious for any team. So today definitely was a step in the right direction for us.”
