Ben Rice kept his usual schedule, ate his scrambled eggs and avocado toast, and then turned Yankee Stadium into his own October routine. The Yankees’ first baseman homered twice, drove in six runs and powered a 9-0 shutout of the Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series.
Key takeaways
- Rice went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, a single and six RBIs in the series opener.
- Cam Schlittler struck out 10 Boston hitters across 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
- Rice’s six RBIs tied the Yankees’ single-game postseason record, and his eighth-inning grand slam was the club’s 16th in postseason play.
- The 27-year-old Rice finished his All-Star regular season with a career-best 41 homers.
- Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Rice gives New York an October jolt
The Yankees did not wait long for Rice to make his mark. He opened New York’s hitting with a double in the first inning, then supplied the first runs in the fifth when he drove a pitch from Erik Miller into Monument Park. The two-run shot gave Schlittler breathing room, though the right-hander hardly needed it.
Schlittler, a fellow Massachusetts native, controlled the Red Sox through 6 1/3 innings. He allowed no runs and reached double digits in strikeouts, setting the tone for a Yankees club that kept adding on after his exit.
Rice delivered an RBI single in the seventh, then put the game well beyond reach in the eighth. Facing Brayan Bello, he sent a grand slam into the right-field bullpen. It completed a six-RBI night that matched the most ever produced by a Yankee in one postseason game.
For Rice, the performance ranked near the top of his young career. Yet his postgame focus was less on the two homers than the process that brought him there. He said the regular-season habits that carried him through 162 games had to remain in place once the postseason arrived.
A routine built for the difficult stretches
Rice’s teammates have come to know him as both a diligent student of hitting and an easy presence around the clubhouse. Spencer Jones, whose locker is beside Rice’s, said Rice is always studying video and searching for details that might give him an advantage. Jones also noted that the two find time for daily phone-game competitions and conversations that range from food to New York apartments.
Cody Bellinger described Rice as a thoughtful hitter, pointing to his Dartmouth background and the value of the conversations different players can have about their individual approaches. Tuesday, Bellinger said, was an especially impressive display.
Rice’s season was not without its tests. Early in the year, he and Aaron Judge traded a friendly race for the club’s home run lead, with Judge joking that he would not allow Rice to pass him. A fractured right rib later sidelined Judge for most of the season, leaving Rice with greater responsibility in the lineup.
There were slumps, both for Rice and for an offense that endured a difficult two-month stretch. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Rice’s ability to recover from a month-long grind was among the most encouraging parts of an excellent offensive season. Rice closed the regular season with a surge and carried that momentum straight into October.
Rice believes the rough patches are precisely when routine matters most. His daily cage work follows the same timing, his preparation remains unchanged, and even breakfast stays fixed. That structure, he said, cuts down on the uncertainty of a long season: when game time comes, he knows exactly what he has prepared to do.
