Yankees' Ben Rice hits two homers for 41 on season, joins four-way AL lead

Ben Rice hit his 40th and 41st home runs of the season as the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-2 on Wednesday night, according to The Associated Press. [3]

Rice connected on the first pitch of the first inning from Rays pitcher Mason Englert, sending it into the right-field second deck. The Associated Press said it was Rice's fourth career leadoff homer and second this season. Rice added a solo homer in the fourth inning and finished with three hits. [3]

MLB said in a post on X that Rice became the 13th different Yankee with a 40-homer season. In an earlier post, MLB said the second homer created a four-way tie atop the American League leaderboard at 41. [1][2]

The others tied with Rice are Pete Alonso of Baltimore, Junior Caminero of the Rays and Yordan Alvarez of Houston, the Associated Press reported. [3]

Ryan McMahon added a grand slam and matched his career high with five RBI. George Lombard Jr. also homered for New York, and Cedric Mullins homered for Tampa Bay. Yankees starter Gerrit Cole (10-9) allowed two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. [3]

The game came a day after Tampa Bay clinched the AL East title. New York is assured of hosting a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, likely against Boston. [3]

The Yankees and Rays play the final game of the series Thursday night. New York is scheduled to start Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.94 ERA) against Tampa Bay's Freddy Peralta (9-11, 4.56 ERA). [3]