A New York Yankees player hitting three home runs in a game against the Boston Red Sox is a sure way to turn heads. Considering Ben Rice is a rookie, he may have just made a mark on the history of this great baseball rivalry.
Rice definitely left a mark on Yankees history, becoming the first rookie in the franchise’s storied history to hit three home runs in one game.
In addition to driving in three runs, Rice collected seven RBIs while going 3-for-5 in the Yankees’ 14-4 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
His first-inning homer off Boston’s Josh Winckowski gave New York a 1-0 lead. But damage was coming. Rice added a three-run homer in the fifth off Chase Anderson to increase the Yankees’ lead to 10-4. He tagged Anderson again in the seventh for another three-run homer.
Rice came into the game with one home run, a .261 batting average and a .755 OPS, so this performance probably couldn’t have been predicted.
In 60 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he hit 15 homers with a .275 batting average and a .925 OPS. Rice was called up in mid-June when Anthony Rizzo went on the disabled list with a broken arm that was expected to sideline him for at least eight weeks.