July 6, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice (93) celebrates with center fielder Aaron Judge (99) after his solo home run in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Rookie Ben Rice hit three home runs, including a three-run hit to cap a seven-run fifth inning as the host New York Yankees snapped a four-game losing streak with a 14-4 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.
Rice hit a leadoff home run off Boston starter Josh Winckowski, then hit two home runs off Chase Anderson. He hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Yankees a 10-4 lead, then added another three-run home run in the seventh inning to extend New York’s lead to 14-4.
Rice accomplished the feat in his 17th career game and third since being promoted to the No. 1 spot.
It was the 36th time in team history that a Yankee had hit three home runs, and Rice became the 26th player to accomplish the feat. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rice became the first rookie in team history to hit a three-home run game.
The Yankees won for the fifth time in 19 games after coming within a strike of winning the series opener Friday thanks to Rice, who rejoined the team after Anthony Rizzo broke his right forearm June 16 at Fenway Park.
Rice started his day by hitting a 2-2 slasher to the second floor in right field off Boston starting pitcher Josh Winckowski. He hit a 1-0 changeup from Anderson into the right-field seats for a six-run lead and lifted a 1-1 slasher to right for a 10-run lead to earn an encore from the crowd.
Alex Verdugo hit a game-tying home run after the Red Sox took a 3-1 lead in the first half against Gerrit Cole.
Rafael Devers became the 33rd player in team history to reach 1,000 hits when he led off Boston’s three-run third inning with an RBI single. Devers scored on a hit by Masataka Yoshida and then hit a 441-foot home run off Cole in the fifth inning to give Boston a 4-3 lead.
Before Rice finished the fifth inning, Anthony Volpe hit a tying double off Greg Weissert after Brennan Bernardino (3-2) put two runs on base and pinch-hitter Austin Wells walked with the bases loaded to give New York a 5-4 lead. Oswaldo Cabrera brought up a sacrifice fly and DJ LeMahieu hit the first of his two RBI singles before Rice’s 406-foot home run.
Cole allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out eight batters, walked two and threw 90 pitches.
After Cole left, Tim Hill (2-0) kept the deficit to 4-3 and pitched 2 2/3 innings to earn his first win since joining the Yankees on June 20.
Winckowski allowed three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
–Field level media
