BEN RICE ! BEN RICE ! BEN RICE ! NY 12 St. Louis 8

August 17, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Ben Rice mashes RBI single in the 7th for a key insurance run -- his 3rd hit and 7th RBI of the night.

Ben Rice:

  • Hit a 3-run HR to turn the game around and put the Yankees up 6-5 in the 4th,
  • Hit a bases-loaded double to clear the bases and put the Yanks up 9-5 in the 6th, and
  • Singled in an insurance run to put NY up 11-7 in the 7th for a total of 7 RBI’s, leading NY to a 12-8 victory over the Cardinals in St Louis on a Saturday night.

Rice’s 3-run HR turned the game and seemingly the season around after Yankee Ace Max Fried coughed up an early 2-0 lead and was down 5-2 in the 2nd. Rice’s 3-RBI double cemented the lead, and his insurance RBI single helped give NY a comfort zone after Fried made the game close again by coughing up a 2-run HR in the 6th to make it a 9-7 game.

Devin Williams relieved Fried and struck out all 3 batters he faced in the 6th, and Yerry De los Santos pitched 2 shutout innings, before Mark Leiter needed saving in the 9th — allowing a 1-out HR and consecutive 2-out singles — with David Bednar getting the final out.

The Yanks banged out 15 hits. Trent Grisham went 4-5 and scored 4 runs, and Aaron Judge went 2-3 with 2 walks and his 39th HR of the year — which cut the Yankee deficit to 5-3 in the 3rd. Everyone in the Yankee lineup joined the hit party except Anthony Volpe who went 0-5 — but made 2 tremendous defensive plays in the field.

Fried did retire 11 of 12 in the middle innings — after falling behind 5-2 and before making a 9-5 Yankee lead into a 9-7 nail biter. Fried had a 1.92 ERA at the end of June but it is 6.80 in 8 starts since the beginning of July.

Boone on Fried

“It’s the next level of strike throwing,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “For several starts in there it was not consistently getting ahead at all — a lot of 1-0, start from there. Then the Astros got him where he was not putting guys away. I think it’s that next level of command; making sure he’s using all his stuff and using both sides of the plate. This is the gauntlet that is the season. He’ll get through it — he’s working his butt off; the stuff’s there. We just need to find that next level of execution.”

Boone on Rice

On Rice, Boone said “He’s hit the ball hard all year. We talk about unlucky and all that — he is the poster child. He’s hit so many balls on the screws for outs this year. Right now he’s getting rewarded for it a little bit. But he’s definitely in a good place at the plate. He’s doing a great job of controlling the zone while still going up there making sure he’s aggressively looking for his pitch.”

NY improves to 66-57, and remains 6.5 behind Toronto and 1.5 behind Boston, but picks up games in the Wild Card race on both Seattle and Cleveland. St. Louis drops to 61-63.

1. Judge & The Martian Put NY Up 2-0

The game featured a matchup of top pitchers — Max Fried for NY and former Yank Sonny Gray for St. Loo — who came in with an 11-5 4.06 record.

The Yanks jumped all over Gray in the top of the 1st — Trent Grisham leading off with a single, Ben Rice walking, and Aaron Judge ripping a double to left for a 1-0 lead.

Jasson Dominguez aka The Martian then ripped a 1-out single to left to make it 2-0 NY.

2. Fried Clobbered

But Fried — who has not pitched that well since the beginning of July — immediately gave some of that lead back in the bottom of the 1st, allowing a 1-out triple to Alec Burleson and RBI single to DH Ivan Herrara for a 2-1 game.

It was more of the same in the bottom of the 2nd — leadoff walk by Nolan Gorman, 1-out single by catcher Pedro Pages, RBI single by centerfielder Victor Scott II, and 3-run HR by shortstop Masyn Winn and NY was down 5-2.

3. Judge HR Pulls Yanks Closer

Aaron Judge immediately made Yankee fans feel a ‘little’ better by ripping a line shot to right center that just made it over the wall and the glove of a leaping Victor Scott II. Scott slammed into the wall and was down and staggered for a while — but was OK. It was Judge’s 39th HR of the year, making it a 5-3 game.

4. Rice 3-Run HR Turns Game (and Season?) Around

And then in the top of the 4th, Jose Caballero reached on a 1-out bunt single against Gray, Trent Grisham singled to right — and Ben Rice turned the game around with a 3-run BLAST 429 feet to right center for a 6-5 Yankee lead!

5. Rice 3-RBI Double Makes It 9-5 NY

Sonny Gray pitched a shutout 5th — helped by a strike-Volpe-out-throw-the-Martian-out double play (although The Martian felt he was safe and Suzyn Waldman agreed — the Yankees however did not challenge).

St Loo brought out Kyle Leahy to pitch the top of the 6th, and Austin Wells joined the hit party with a single to right leading off, Jose Caballero singled to left, and Trent Grisham singled to center to load the bases with nobody out.

And Ben Rice promptly unloaded them with a stinging double to the gap in right center. NY 9 St Louis 5.

6. Fried Gets the Win; Devin Saves Him in 6th

After the 3-run HR to xx in the 2nd Fried settled down:

  • Striking out the next 2 batters and pitching a 1-2-3 shutout 3rd,
  • Working around a 1-out single to pitch a shutout 4th, and
  • Pitching a 1-2-3 shutout 5th.

In the 6th — up 9-5 after Rice’s heroics — Fried got into some more trouble — a leadoff double by Walker and 2-run HR by Nolan Gorman high and just fair inside the pole in right for a 9-7 game.

Boone yanked Fried and brought in Devin Williams — who struck out all 3 batters he faced — Thomas Saggese swinging, Pedro Pages swinging, and Garrett Hampson looking to end the inning.

Fried’s final line: 5 IP, 8 hits, 7 runs, 6 K’s, 1 walk. He gets the win to go 13-5 3.26.

7. McMahon & Rice Provide Insurance

Ryan McMahon immediately made fans at home feel better with a HR to right leading off the 7th off Roddery Munoz to make it 10-7. It was his first HR as a Yankee.

Jose Caballero then walked with 1 out, stole 2nd, and scored on a Ben Rice single to right — his 7th RBI of the game! Yankees 11 St Loo 7.

Andre Granillo relieved Munoz, and walked Aaron Judge to load the bases with 1 out. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a sac fly to right and it was 12-7 NY.

8. De los Santos with 2 Shutout Innings

Yerry De los Santos then came in and provided more sanity from the pen — pitching a shutout 7th (strikeout, infield single, double play on his 96-MPH sinker), and shutout 8th (lineout, strikeout, groundout).

9. Bednar Saves Leiter in 9th

Mark Leiter Jr. pitched the 9th and it was more insanity — he got the first out but allowed a 429-foot solo HR to Pedro Pages to left for a 12-8 game.

Leiter struck out Yohel Pozo for the 2nd out — but then yielded consecutive infield singles that found their way — and just like that the tying run was on deck.

Manager Aaron Boone wasn’t fooling around — bringing in David Bednar — and he got Herrera to foul out to Austin Wells behind the plate for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

Some Yank fans were epolipltic that Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton — both red hot — were not in the lineup — Stanton for the 2nd straight game. Boone revealed before the game that:

  • Giancarlo was out with soreness — recovering from playing the outfield for 3 straight games in Texas. “Just a little tougher recovering after the last one,” said Boone. “And then being here (with a spacious right field in St Louis). So we’ll see. We’ll see if tomorrow (Sunday) is an option or not.”
  • Bellinger was dealing with a little stomach issue.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696755

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