July 10, 2026

Ben Rice Explodes as Yankees Crush Rays 12-4 to Split Series

Yankees

Ben Rice Explodes as Yankees Crush Rays 12-4 to Split Series

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The Yankees finally stopped looking helpless at the plate and finally remembered how to hit.

Ben Rice Blows the Game Open

The Yankees crushed the Tampa Bay Rays 12-4 on Thursday, salvaging a split in the four-game series with an offensive performance that had been missing for nearly two weeks.

Ben Rice carried the damage.

Rice went 2-for-4 with two home runs, five RBI, three runs scored and a walk. His first homer came during a six-run third inning that flipped the game. His second was a towering three-run shot in the sixth that pushed the Yankees ahead 10-3 and ended the competitive portion of the afternoon.

Rice now has 28 home runs, and he did this just days before appearing in the Home Run Derby.

Not bad timing.

The Yankees entered with only two wins in their previous 13 games. One blowout does not erase the slide, but it proves this lineup can still punch somebody in the mouth when the at-bats stay connected.

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The Third Inning Changed Everything

New York trailed 1-0 before sending 10 batters to the plate in the third.

Max Schuemann opened with a double. Ryan McMahon followed with an RBI double, Trent Grisham singled home another run and Rice launched a two-run homer to right.

Jasson Domínguez, Cody Bellinger and José Caballero kept the inning alive with three straight singles. Jazz Chisholm Jr. added a sacrifice fly, and suddenly the Yankees had scored six runs on seven hits.

That was the inning fans have been waiting to see. For once, the pressure never stopped building.

No standing around. No empty strikeouts with runners on base. No waiting for one hitter to rescue everybody. The Yankees kept passing the pressure to the next man, and Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen never recovered.

Rasmussen entered with an 0.89 career ERA against the Yankees. He left after allowing six runs and seven hits in only 2 1/3 innings.

Austin Wells Finally Goes Deep

Austin Wells also gave the Yankees something they desperately needed.

Wells homered in the fourth inning, ending a 23-game homerless drought. It was his first home run since May 22, which also came against Tampa Bay.

His season has been brutal offensively, so nobody should pretend one swing fixes everything. The Yankees need production from catcher, and Wells finally put a mistake in the seats.

McMahon finished with two doubles and two RBI. Grisham collected two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. DomĂ­nguez and Bellinger also had two hits apiece as the Yankees finished with 14 hits and three home runs.

The Bullpen Did Its Job

Seven Yankees pitchers combined to hold Tampa Bay to four runs.

Paul Blackburn started and allowed one run over two innings. Ryan Yarbrough earned the win with a scoreless inning. Angel Chivilli delivered two perfect innings with three strikeouts, while Tim Hill handled the ninth.

The Yankees improved to 51-42 and won for only the third time in 14 games.

They are still four games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East. They are still dealing with injuries and trying to survive without Aaron Judge.

But after weeks of dead bats and wasted opportunities, the Yankees finally left the ballpark looking like a dangerous offense again.

Now comes the hard part: doing it again.

Yankees @ Rays – Win 12 – 4
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Felix PantaleĂłn

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Born in Manhattan, New York, Felix Pantaleon is a Dominican-American digital content creator and the founder of NYYNEWS, one of the first and longest-running independent New York Yankees content creator platforms, active since 2005.

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