Yankees Bury Red Sox 9-0 as Ben Rice Wrecks Boston's Series Hopes
Ben Rice hit two homers and drove in six, the Red Sox managed three hits all night, and Boston opens this series down 0-1.
Well, that's one way to open a series. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 9-0 at Yankee Stadium, and if you want the single thing that decided it, it's this: Ben Rice went 4-for-5 with two home runs and six RBIs, and the Red Sox offense managed exactly three hits against Cam Schlittler and a Yankees bullpen that barely had to sweat. Boston is now down 0-1 in this series, and as a guy whose own playing days peaked at a well-placed fair catch, I can tell you a game like this doesn't need a villain — it just needs one guy going off and one lineup going cold at the worst possible time.
This one didn't feel tight for long. Austin Wells singled home George Lombard Jr. in the second to make it 1-0, and from there it was a slow bleed. Rice hit a solo shot to center in the fifth (2-0), then in the seventh he singled home Spencer Jones to make it 3-0 before Luis García Jr.'s double-play grounder plated Wells for a 4-0 lead. Wells added a sac fly in the eighth to push it to 5-0, and then Rice put the whole thing out of reach with a grand slam to center — Ryan McMahon, Jones and Paul Goldschmidt all scoring — for the 9-0 final. FOUR RUNS ON ONE SWING. That's the kind of at-bat that ends a night and, if we're being honest, maybe starts creeping into your head about the next one.
On the Boston side, Payton Tolle actually gave the Sox a shot: 4.2 innings, five hits, one run, one earned, four strikeouts. That's a fine start against a lineup that ended up racking up 12 hits and nine runs. The bullpen is where it came apart. Erik Miller, Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds and Brayan Bello all got dinged for runs, with Gamboa and Bello each getting into jams they couldn't escape — Bello in particular only recorded two outs. Greg Weissert was the one reliever who kept it clean, working a scoreless inning. Bad losses happen — I'm not going to pretend this one was some moral victory — but I'll say this for Tolle: he did his job.
At the plate, it was grim. Adley Rutschman, Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story each had a hit, and that was basically the offense — three hits, one walk, zero runs, five men left on. The Red Sox finished the night batting .103 as a team. Schlittler struck out 10 over 6.1 innings and only allowed two hits, and the Yankees bullpen finished it off without blinking.
Three things I can't stop thinking about after this one:
- Ben Rice going 4-for-5 with a homer, a slam and six ribbies is the kind of night that decides a series, not just a game.
- Tolle giving Boston 4.2 solid innings and getting completely buried by the final score.
- Three hits. Three. In a game this big.
So here's where the Red Sox sit: down 0-1 in this series, staring at a lineup that went cold at the exact wrong time. Boston gets right back at it Wednesday at 8:00 PM ET, same building, same Yankees team riding this kind of momentum. No moral victories in the postseason. Just a scoreboard that needs fixing, fast.