Ben Rice, bullpen propel Yankees to comeback victory over Rays
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.TAMPA — At times Thursday night, it did not take much squinting to make it look like the Yankees and Rays were playing a Grapefruit League exhibition.Beyond the game being played at George M.
Steinbrenner Field, now the home of the Rays, there was Ben Rice mashing and the Yankees using a parade of pitchers after an early exit by their starter.Fortunately for the Yankees, the former is no longer just a spring mirage, and it helped compensate for the latter.Rice, who continues to smoke the ball, collected his first four-hit night, and the Yankees bullpen perfected the art of bending without breaking in a 6-3 win over the Rays in front of a sellout crowd of 10,046 that favored the visitors.After Will Warren recorded just five outs because of a soaring pitch count (throwing 38 pitches in the second inning before he was pulled), the Yankees (12-7) pieced together the rest of the game with Ryan Yarbrough (2 ²/₃ innings), Tim Hill (two innings), Ian Hamilton (1 ²/₃ innings) and Devin Williams (one inning).The group performed something of a high-wire act, leaving the bases loaded three times through the first five innings (twice by Yarbrough, once by Hill) to keep the Rays from blowing the game open and giving the Yankees a chance to get back in it.One aspect of the night that was certainly not spring training-like was Jazz Chisholm Jr.getting ejected in the seventh inning for vehemently arguing balls and strikes.
The second baseman was heated with home plate umpire John Bacon, who called a 3-2 pitch below the zone strike three, and although Aaron Boone raced out to try to get Chisholm back to the dugout before he was tossed, it was not enough.Minutes later, Chisholm tweeted from the clubhouse, “Not even f–king close!!!!!”The Yankees trailed 3-1 in the fifth inning, when Oswaldo Cabrera homered and a Rice double helped...