Ben Rices red-hot Yankees spring continues with fifth homer

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees from spring training CLEARWATER, Fla.— Cody Bellinger hit a ball Wednesday that looked like it was going to fly back to Tampa for his third home run of the spring.And it still wasn’t the most impressive ball hit by a Yankee at BayCare Ballpark.That belonged to Ben Rice, who smoked an offering from Taijuan Walker for his fifth home run of the spring, coming off the bat at 110.3 mph.“[Rice is] controlling every at-bat, it seems, and hitting the absolute s–t out of the ball,” Bellinger said.

“That ball today was hit really hard.”Strengthening his campaign to get a large share of the DH at-bats to start the season, Rice clubbed one of four homers the Yankees hit in a 9-7 win over the Phillies, along with Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr.and Pablo Reyes.

He also drew two walks and finished the day batting .283 with a .974 OPS through 15 games this spring.“It’s fun to watch,” Bellinger said.“Fun to watch him work, and it seems as if he has a really good idea of what he wants and what he wants to accomplish.”Bellinger, meanwhile, continued his own strong spring with a 2-for-4 showing, now hitting .475 (19-for-40) with a 1.348 OPS.“I like where I’m at,” Bellinger said.

“Just making day-by-day adjustments depending on how I feel and really like where my consistency is at.Just stay right there.”The Yankees are targeting Friday for Paul Goldschmidt (back) to return to the lineup if he gets through baseball activities OK on Thursday.

The veteran first baseman has not played since exiting Monday’s game after two at-bats.Facing what looked like the Opening Day Phillies lineup, Marcus Stroman threw three scoreless innings on 64 pitches while generating plenty of weak contact.He got into a handful of deep counts that led to the high pitch count, but held the Phillies to just one hit and two walks while st...