Yankees beat Rays as Ben Rice picks up four hits, two RBIs

TAMPA, Fla. — Ben Rice hit consistently throughout spring training in winning the Yankees’ open designated hitter job.

And the lefthanded-swinging Rice, who added roughly 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason after a disappointing debut in 2024, hasn’t stopped hitting.

Still, there was some symmetry in his performance Thursday night, as he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs in the Yankees’ 6-3 “road” victory over the Rays in front of a sellout crowd of 10,046 at Steinbrenner Field.

“It’s good. Feels good here,” Rice said with a smile. “Little weird being on the visiting side today, but just glad we were able to come out with a win.”

Steinbrenner Field, of course, has been the Yankees’ spring training home since 1996. The facility is being used by the Rays this season after their home, Tropicana Field, was severely damaged by last October’s Hurricane Milton.

Rice, who hit five homers in spring training en route to producing an .835 OPS, with much of that damage done at Steinbrenner Field, collected hits in each of his first four at-bats. Rice, the club’s 12th-round pick out of Dartmouth in the 2021 draft, is hitting .317 with a 1.064 OPS.

“Just more raking,” Aaron Boone said. “He can really hit. He’s obviously putting together great at-bats. There’s patience in there, and when he’s getting into some leverage counts, he’s doing a lot of damage.”

Rice’s fourth hit of the night, a two-out, two-run single that capped a three-run sixth, gave the Yankees a 6-3 lead. His efforts, as well as those by Paul Goldschmidt (two hits), Oswaldo Cabrera (two hits, including a homer) and the bullpen, helped the Yankees overcome a 1 2⁄3-inning outing by Will Warren, who suddenly lost command during a 38-pitch second inning.

Despite being outhit 12-11 by the Rays (8-11), who left 10 runners on base, the Yankees (12-7) earned their fourth straight win.

“What a great team effort,” Boone said. “Position players, [their] at-bats, just grinding away. And obviously the bullpen coming up huge to different degrees . . . It’s a feel-good one right there.”

There was some theater in the seventh when Jazz Chisholm Jr. took issue with a called third strike on a full-count pitch, which appeared to be low, and was ejected by plate umpire John Bacon. It was the fifth ejection of Chisholm’s career, and he took to X just minutes after being run, posting “Not even (expletive) close!!!!!,” which could earn him a fine from MLB.

“I lost my emotions, I lost my cool,” said Chisholm, mentioning several times (without elaboration) that he didn’t “like” what Bacon said to him during the argument. “At the same time, I still gotta be able to stay out there and go out there and play defense for my team. That’s why I’m here. So I have to be better than that.”

After Warren allowed one run, four hits and two walks in his 53-pitch outing, Ryan Yarbrough, Tim Hill, Ian Hamilton and Devin Williams, who earned his fourth save, got the Yankees to the finish line.

Yarbrough, a Ray from 2018-22, struck out Brandon Lowe with two outs and the bases loaded in the second. He allowed a two-run homer by Junior Caminero in the third that gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead, but with the bases loaded and one out in the third, he got Taylor Walls to hit into a double play.

Eight pitches into the night, the Yankees had the lead against Rays righthander Taj Bradley.

Goldschmidt, 13-for-35 (.371) in nine previous games as the leadoff hitter, reached on an infield single. Rice singled to right and Aaron Judge, now hitting .400 with a 1.283 OPS, laced a first-pitch cutter to center for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead.

Kameron Misner started the bottom half with a single to center and Lowe roped a single to right. Misner ill-advisedly challenged Judge’s arm and he fired a bullet to Cabrera, who tagged Misner out at third. Warren got Yandy Diaz to line to second and Jonathan Aranda to fly to right.

The Rays tied it in the second while knocking out Warren, and the 3-1 lead provided by Caminero did not last long in the face of tough at-bat after tough at-bat by the Yankees.

Cabrera drilled a 1-and-2, 96-mph fastball over the rightfield wall in the fifth for his first 2025 homer, making it 3-2. Goldschmidt singled to left and Rice doubled into the rightfield corner. Judge walked to load the bases and Cody Bellinger’s groundout tied it at 3-3.

After Hill escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the fifth — striking out pinch hitter Danny Jansen and retiring Walls on a grounder — the Yankees took the lead for good in the sixth. Chisholm worked a leadoff walk and J.C. Escarra singled, putting runners at the corners. Jasson Dominguez’s groundout to second made it 4-3. Cabrera walked, Goldschmidt’s grounder put runners on second and third and Rice singled to drive them in.

“Keep winning pitches,” Rice said of the mentality at the plate. “Bullpen did a great job tonight keeping us in it the whole way and kept putting us in a position to put some runs up.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.