Ben

Rice

Rice’s first homer barely scraped over the fence -- in fact it was reviewed by the umpire crew to be sure it crossed the yellow line -- but his second was a no-doubter to right-center that almost hit the Rays aquarium. The Yankees haven’t hit much of late, but Rice has been carrying them with five homers in his last seven games. He’s got a few more warm-up acts before the Home Run Derby -- the two homers he hit here made his total of 28 a career high. He still has a whole second half of the season to play.

Rice took Rays lefty Ian Seymour deep with an opposite-field shot in the third inning. It was his 26th long ball of the season and second consecutive contest with a round-tripper. The 27-year-old appears to be warming up just in time for next week’s All-Star Home Run Derby.

Rice joins Junior Caminero as known participants for the event, which will take place Monday in Philadelphia. The 27-year-old has been sensational in 2026 with 25 homers, and it’s not hard to imagine him doing well in the competition next week.

Rice provided a little extra insurance for New York with a ninth-inning dinger against Rays reliever Chris Roycroft. The power-hitting 27-year-old is one round-tripper away from matching last year’s total and is on pace to threaten the lofty 40-homer plateau. He’s cooled off considerably after a sizzling-hot start to the year, but he’s still providing plenty of over-the-fence pop.

Rice blasted his 24th homer of the season into the right-field stands in the third inning to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. It was a much-needed bright spot for the slugger who is slashing a measly .175/.230/.386 over his last 15 games and has cooled off significantly after a blistering start to the season that saw him slashing .306/.397/.658 after May. He’s homered twice in his last two games and hit safely in each of his last three, so hopefully Rice is beginning to turn a corner and find his way out of this slump.

Rice was one of the few bright spots for New York on a relatively miserable evening as he took Tigers ace Tarik Skubal deep in the opening frame for his 23rd long ball of the season. He struck out in two of his final three at-bats of the one-sided affair.

His one hard-hit ball today turned into a double play. Rice also managed just two singles in 13 at-bats against the Tigers earlier this week, so his OPS has dropped from 1.004 to .940 in a six-game span. His hard-hit rate has gone from 61 percent in April to 44 percent in May and 32 percent in June.

Goldschmidt takes a seat with Ben Rice at first base and Cody Bellinger getting the nod at DH to face emerging Reds ace Chase Burns during Sunday afternoon’s matinee at Yankee Stadium. The 38-year-old veteran, who launched his 12th round-tripper of the season during Saturday’s contest, has been tearing the cover off the ball recently, hitting .338 (23-for-68) with six homers in 16 games since the start of June.

Rice made the most of his opportunity in the second inning when he stepped up to the dish with two runners on. The lefty took a high and inside fastball from Rhett Lowder, 452 feet to deep center to push the Yankees’ lead to 4-0 for his 21st homer of the season. Rice continues to display impressive power and is slashing .254/.362/.475 in the month of June.

Rice and Paul Goldschmidt both homered in the fourth, giving the Yankees a total of 30 homers from what they were looking at as a first base platoon initially. Of course, both are full-timers right now, but it’s easy to forget that Rice was on the bench for three of the Yankees’ first four games versus lefties during the first couple of weeks. Rice became the eighth player to reach 20 homers this season. He’s third in the majors with his 1.006 OPS.