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Writer's pictureAndy Singer

About Last Night: Yanks Crush The Red Sox, 14-4

By Andy Singer

July 7th, 2024



The Big Story


What a game. The Yankees have been almost unwatchable for the last month, and it hasn't gotten any better over the last few days...until yesterday afternoon, that is. The Yankees moved Ben Rice up to the leadoff spot a few days ago, not because he's a prototypical leadoff hitter, but because he's been one of the only productive bats in the lineup aside from Judge, Soto, and Wells. Many have complained about Rice's placement at the top of the order, and while it's true that he doesn't possess speed nor a prototypical contact-heavy profile traditionalists prefer from a leadoff hitter, it's impossible to argue against yesterday's results. If you didn't know who Ben Rice was before, you sure know who he is now.


To lead-off the Yankees' half of the first inning, Rice worked a 6-pitch at-bat that culminated in a long solo shot off of Josh Winckowski to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. Quite simply, it set the tone for what was an incredible day for both Rice and the Yankees.


While Gerrit Cole showed some promising signs, generating 8 strikeouts in 4.1 innings, he also struggled to keep runners off of the bases and left the game with a 4-3 deficit. On his final pitch, Cole allowed a long solo shot to Rafael Devers, and Devers slammed the bat, slow trotted around the bases, and appeared to gesture at Alex Verdugo in LF. I would imagine it was in response to Verdugo's slow trot on his two-run homer in the third inning, but in any case it made Devers look ridiculous. I'm not sure whether Cole was angrier at Devers' antics or knowing that Boone was going to come out to get him off the mound.


In an uncharacteristic show of guts, the bullpen was nearly perfect for the next 4.2 innings. Tim Hill relieved Cole to stop the bleeding, and kept the Sox off-balance with his submarine delivery for 2.2 innings. Josh Maciejewski was legitimately impressive thereafter, with 4 strikeouts in 2 innings...I'm beginning to understand what the Yankees see in him.


The real story though was what happened in the bottom of the 5th inning, just a half inning after Devers' showboating. The Yanks produced a 7-run 5th inning through patience, working counts, displaying the timely hitting that has eluded them these last 3+ weeks, and showing power when it counted. The Yanks batted around in the inning, with Soto grounding out to lead off and finished the inning with a strikeout. The best stuff happened in-between. Judge and Verdugo got on with 1-out singles, with Verdugo showing grit and hustle with a bunt single. Volpe hit a ground rule double to CF to score the first run of the inning to tie the game (though it looked to me like the CF took an awful route to a catchable ball, sometimes you need a little luck). The Yanks played some small-ball after Volpe's hit, as Grisham was intentionally walked, while Wells drew an impressive 8-pitch walk while fouling off 3 pitches. Oswaldo Cabrera hit a sac fly, while DJLM singled. Right there, it was a 4-run inning, which would have been enough to keep me happy, but Ben Rice had other ideas. Rice slammed a 2nd pitch change-up from Chase Anderson deep into the right field seats for a 3-run shot to put the cherry on top.


The wind was completely out of the Red Sox's sails at that point, but Rice wasn't done yet. After a LeMahieu RBI single in the 7th inning, Rice hit a 3rd homer, another 3-run shot off of a Chase Anderson cutter to right-center to put the Yanks ahead 14-4. The rookie rightly got to make his curtain call after the homer, and produced the most memorable day a Yankee 1B has produced since Greg Bird's huge homer in the 2017 playoffs.


Notable Performances


Gerrit Cole - 4.1 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 8 K

Ben Rice - 3-5, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 K

Aaron Judge - 2-5, 2 R

Alex Verdugo - 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K

Trent Grisham - 1-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 2B, 1 K

Oswaldo Cabrera - 2-2, 1 R, 1 RBI

DJ LeMahieu - 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB

Bullpen - 4.2, 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K


Better To Forget


Juan Soto - 0-5, 1 K on an "Automatic Strikeout..." that's happened more than once now.


My Take


The Yankees needed a game like this. Their starter, again, struggled through a short start and rather than throwing in the towel, the team dug deep to grind out at-bats and score some runs. Small-ball and homer bonanzas can live side-by-side, and the Yankees showed that yesterday.


Ben Rice started to make a believer out of me when I saw him in Somerset at the end of last season. I was prepared to write him off, but after watching him play, I saw athleticism, real raw power, and a feel for contact despite some need to clean up his mechanics. His swing is quieter this year, and it's paying dividends. I would argue that he's been taking the best ABs on the team in the last week. Now, he has a huge, signature game to show for it. He needs to do it for a bit longer, but I think Anthony Rizzo has officially been Wally Pipp'ed.


Gerrit Cole wasn't great again, but his stuff was more than enough to get outs in bunches, and he did strikeout 8 batters. I am hoping the extreme heat and humidity got to him occasionally, as location was an issue yesterday. Cole has had that problem before, though, and it's fixable. At least I'm not talking about his elbow this time.


Anthony Volpe doubled, but that was more luck than being good, as the CF took a bad route. He looks lost at the plate, with a broken swing. For all of the attention Aaron Judge's personal coach gets for what he's done with Judge, Volpe has implemented many of the same mechanical tactics, and they absolutely don't work for him, and I said it in Spring Training. Even on a good day, I'm worried about the kid.


It's nice to finally write about a Yankee win, particularly one this good.


Looking To Tomorrow


The Yanks look to win the series on Sunday night at 7:10 PM. Luis Gil will look to right the ship against Kutter Crawford.

24 commentaires


Jeff Korell
Jeff Korell
07 juil.

BEN THRICE! Great to see 3 homers from Ben. SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!


Maybe now, the talk about acquiring a First Baseman from other teams like Pete Alonso, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, LaMonte Wade, Jr, Paul Goldschmidt, and Christian Walker will come to an end, and the assets that it would cost the Yankees to acquire any of the above can instead be used to acquire a much needed Third Baseman, 9th Inning Closer, and other QUALITY...SUCCESSFUL....relievers from other ballclubs.


Ben Rice would be better in the #4 or #5 spot in the lineup with Alex Verdugo going to his FAMILIAR leadoff spot, the spot he had success hitting in, in the Red Sox lineups of recent years. Throw out any negativ…

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Jeff Korell
Jeff Korell
09 juil.
En réponse à

I like all of your possibilities. A big need is 3B. Rengifo is worth a shot, if they can get him.


Former Yankee farmhand Josh Smith is flourishing with Texas as a replacement for the injured Josh Jung. He is having an amazing year and many are regarding him as an "All Star snub, saying he deserves to be one of the players representing the host Texas Rangers in the All Star Game. Josh Smith was part of the price the Yankees had to pay to obtain the infamous services of Joey Gallo. Smith would be an amazing upgrade at 3B if they can obtain him once Josh Jung returns from his injury (broken wrist suffered in a game b…

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jjw49
07 juil.

I find it interesting Cabrera gets no love from most folks on SSTN.... is he an everyday player... NO but he is a useful player on this team.... let's review.... he can play 1B, 2B,SS,3B and LF,and RF his line is what you would expect for a utility player and his defense is acceptable, So what is the problem with Cabrera?

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jjw49
08 juil.
En réponse à

OK…. He was never projected to be a everyday starter so as a fill in utility player then he is more than acceptable you look at Berti he hasn’t done anything and seems always injured. Look at Jones and Davis. Cabrera is better imo!

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jjw49
07 juil.

Putting Torres on IL means he won't be in lineup which is a good thing.

J'aime
Jeff Korell
Jeff Korell
09 juil.
En réponse à

It is POSSIBLE that with the right tweaks, that Gleyber can at least return to being the player he was just last season. I would take the 2023 version of Gleyber at this point, as it would be a major upgrade from the player he is right now. And he is capable of being that player again, especially since he is still young. Just a matter of how successful the coaches are at returning Gleyber to the 2023 version of himself. It CAN be done. Will it? That remains to be seen.

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Robert Malchman
Robert Malchman
07 juil.

How is 4.1 IP, 4 ER (an 8.31 ERA), 7 H, 2 BB anything but something forgettable? Cole almost buried the Yankees and was saved by their once-a-week offensive explosion. I'm at the point of starting to wonder if there is Something Wrong With Cole.

J'aime
fuster
07 juil.
En réponse à

the runs were earned, the performance quite flawed.....


and I most definitely noted one instance of too, too solid contact


overall, I'm starting to wonder whether having such a drastically delayed start to his season

might have short-term consequence for Cole.



assuming the Something Wrong aint a horribly wrong something,

the delayed beginning might prove an advantage in the end

J'aime

etbkarate
07 juil.

The automatic strike out is a joke, like many othe Manfred rules.

J'aime
Robert Malchman
Robert Malchman
09 juil.
En réponse à

And when the pitcher doesn't comply, what result? Call a ball? Award the batter first base? Eject the pitcher? The current rule is very simple: Be ready to hit at 8 seconds, or it's a strike. Don't pitch within 15/20? It's a ball. Every other method is either a) going to make the game revert to the awful pace of place with >3 1/2 hour 9-inning games, or b) result in even more draconian penalties for non-compliance.

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