Yankees

Ben Rice’s 33rd Homer Lifts Yankees Over Blue Jays in Extras

By ••3 min read
Ben Rice’s 33rd Homer Lifts Yankees Over Blue Jays in Extras

The Yankees badly needed somebody to change the mood. Ben Rice finally did it.

After three straight losses and another afternoon where the offense spent most of the game fighting for every run, Rice crushed a two-run homer in the 10th inning to push the Yankees past the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3, and avoid a three-game sweep at Rogers Centre.

New York improved to 69-55, but nobody should look at this game and suddenly pretend the offensive problems disappeared. The Yankees scored four runs Sunday. That was twice as many as they had scored over their previous three games combined.

Yeah. That is how ugly the bats had been.

Ryan Weathers Gave Them Exactly What They Needed

The biggest reason the Yankees even had a chance to win this game was Ryan Weathers.

The left-hander delivered 7 1/3 innings of one-run baseball, allowing six hits with one walk and four strikeouts. He retired the first 10 Toronto hitters and kept the Blue Jays from turning this into another game where the Yankees were chasing from behind all afternoon.

Toronto starter Dylan Cease was just as difficult. He struck out 10 Yankees over 6 1/3 innings and allowed only two runs on three hits.

New York manufactured its first run in the third. Jose Caballero walked, stole third and scored on a Luis Garcia Jr. sacrifice fly.

Toronto tied it in the fifth before the Yankees answered in the seventh. George Lombard Jr. doubled, and Caballero came through with a two-out single to left that gave New York a 2-1 lead.

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That should have been enough with the way Weathers pitched.

The Ninth Inning Almost Ruined Everything

David Bednar took over in the eighth and entered the ninth trying to protect a one-run lead.

Then things got messy.

Ben Rice committed a fielding error to open the inning. Alejandro Kirk walked. A wild pitch moved both runners, and Ernie Clement’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2.

Bednar was charged with his third blown save, but he at least stopped the situation from getting worse by retiring Kazuma Okamoto and sending the game into extras.

Considering how this series had gone, you could almost feel another brutal Yankees loss developing.

Rice had another idea.

Ben Rice Finally Breaks Through

Ali Sanchez started the 10th at second base and Caballero moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt.

Rice then got a pitch from Braydon Fisher and launched it to right-center for his 33rd home run of the season, giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead.

It was Rice’s first hit of the entire series.

Good timing.

Toronto scored once against Tim Hill in the bottom half, but Hill finished the job and secured his second save of the season.

The Yankees leave Toronto without getting swept, and at this point they’ll gladly take it.

But the bigger issue remains obvious. Rice’s homer saved the afternoon, Weathers was excellent, and the pitching once again gave this team every opportunity to win. The lineup still produced only six hits and struck out 12 times.

This was a win the Yankees needed.

Now they need to start hitting like a team that plans on doing something with it.

Yankees @ Blue Jays – Win 4 – 3
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Yankees @ Blue Jays – Win 4 – 3
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