Rookie Ben Rice hit three homers, including a three-run blast to cap a seven-run fifth inning as the host New York Yankees stopped a four-game losing streak with a 14-4 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.
Rice hit a leadoff homer off Boston starter Josh Winckowski, then connected twice off Chase Anderson. He hit a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Yankees a 10-4 lead and then added another three-run drive in the seventh to push New York’s edge to 14-4.
Rice achieved the feat in his 17th career game and third since being moved up to the leadoff spot.
It was the 36th time in team history a Yankee homered three times and Rice became the 26th player to achieve the feat. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rice became the first rookie in team history with a three-homer game.
The Yankees won for the fifth time in 19 games after being one strike away from winning Friday’s series opener thanks to Rice, who joined the team after Anthony Rizzo broke his right forearm June 16 at Fenway Park.
Rice started his big day by hitting a 2-2 cutter to the second deck in right field off Boston starter Josh Winckowski. He slugged a 1-0 changeup from Anderson into the right field seats for a six-run lead and lifted a 1-1 cutter to right for a 10-run margin to earn a curtain call from the crowd.
Alex Verdugo hit a tying homer after the Red Sox took a 3-1 lead in the top half off Gerrit Cole.
Rafael Devers became the 33rd player in team history to reach 1,000 hits when he started Boston’s three-run third with an RBI single. Devers scored on a base hit by Masataka Yoshida and later hit a 441-foot homer off Cole in the fifth to put Boston ahead 4-3.
Before Rice capped the fifth, Anthony Volpe hit a tying double off Greg Weissert after Brennan Bernardino (3-2) put two on and pinch hitter Austin Wells drew a bases-loaded walk to put New York ahead 5-4. Oswaldo Cabrera lifted a sacrifice fly and DJ LeMahieu hit the first of his two RBI singles ahead of Rice’s 406-foot drive.
Cole allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Cole struck out eight, walked two and threw 90 pitches.
After Cole exited, Tim Hill (2-0) kept the deficit at 4-3 and pitched 2 2/3 innings to earn his first win since joining the Yankees June 20.
Winckowski allowed three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media