Erik Boland: Ben Rice changes the narrative with tiebreaking blast in 10th
Ben Rice of the New York Yankees runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the 10th against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on August 16, 2026 . Credit: Getty Images/Cole Burston
Reggie Jackson famously said: “As long as you have a bat in your hand, you can change the story.”
Ben Rice’s hands betrayed him in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon. He butchered a routine leadoff grounder to first base, helping the Blue Jays pick up an unearned run and tie the score.
But Rice quickly swept that away, using his bat to change both his own narrative and that of the Yankees at Rogers Centre — a building that frequently has produced Bronx tales of heartache in recent years.
With a sellout crowd of 42,351 still buzzing after the Blue Jays forced extra innings, Rice — who entered the 10th inning in a 10-for-85 slump — silenced Rogers Centre with his team-leading 33rd homer, a 438-foot two-run shot to right-center.
Tim Hill allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th, but Rice’s blast was enough to give the Yankees a 4-3 victory that averted a three-game sweep and pulled them within 5 1⁄2 games of the AL East-leading Rays. It also gave them a three-game lead on the Red Sox.
“Any win you can get in this building is a good one,” Rice said. “These guys always play us tough, especially at their park.”
Entering Sunday, the Yankees were 3-11 at Rogers Centre dating to last year, counting the first two games of the 2025 ALDS, in which they were outscored 23-8.
The first two games of this series were not nearly as one-sided, given that Toronto has hit all season the way the Yankees have struggled during the last 2 1⁄2 months without Aaron Judge.
With the Yankees’ offense still in a deep slumber, Toronto earned 3-1 and 4-1 victories in the first two games. Entering the seventh inning Sunday, the Yankees had scored three runs and gone 14-for-108 (.130) in their previous 33 innings.
Ryan Weathers’ brilliance over 7 1⁄3 innings and a two-out RBI single by professional pest Jose Caballero in the seventh allowed the Yankees to take a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
David Bednar, who recorded the last two outs of the eighth in relief of Weathers, induced a weak grounder to first off the bat of Josh Smith. Rice inexplicably — inexplicably to himself most of all — watched it skip off the side of his glove.
What happened? “Couldn’t tell you,” he said, letting out a miffed breath. “I don’t know. Play’s got to be made. Didn’t make it.”
Soon came a one-out wild pitch — which catcher Ali Sanchez should have blocked — that put runners on second and third, setting up a sacrifice fly by Ernie Clement that tied it at 2-2.
After Caballero laid down a well-executed sacrifice bunt to move ghost runner Sanchez to third in the top of the 10th, Rice laid into a hanging 2-and-0 slider from righty Braydon Fisher and hammered it out for a 4-2 lead.
“You just gotta have as short of a memory as you possibly can,” Rice said of mentally flushing the error. “I mean, honestly, with the way baseball is, you don’t really have any time to think about anything. You have that tough error and right away there’s another batter coming up and you have to be ready for that situation, and then we get back on offense, I’m hitting second that inning. You don’t really have time to think about it.”
That, of course, is easier said than done. MLB history is rife with players — good, bad and indifferent — who are not always able to quickly flush mistakes.
“I know, obviously, no one’s feeling worse at that point than Benny,” Aaron Boone said. “And to come up there and essentially win the game for us in the 10th was massive. Credit to him. That’s this game. That’s being a big-leaguer. That’s the major-league season. You have to handle everything and keep going, and Benny’s an example of that today.”
Rice, though he had hit the ball hard a couple of times, entered that final at-bat 0-for-4 in the game.
But it’s been more than several weeks of struggles as Rice, without Judge in the lineup, simply hasn’t been the hitter he was the first two months.
Judge hasn’t played since May 31. Before he left the lineup, Rice had a .306/.397/.658 slash line for a 1.056 OPS, 17 homers and 44 RBIs in 54 games.
He entered Sunday with a .207/.302/.426 slash line for a .727 OPS, 15 homers and 32 RBIs in 64 games since Judge last played.
Perhaps Rice’s 10th-inning swing Sunday will be the starting point of changing that story, too.
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.
