ST. LOUIS — José Caballero knew on contact that Ben Rice’s monster swing would result in a ball in the seats.
With one out, runners on the corners and the New York Yankees trailing by two in the top of the fourth, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray served up a sinker that didn’t sink, and Rice didn’t miss it. Caballero, who was standing on third base, raised a fist and shook it three times before beginning his jog home. Rice pummeled Gray’s 2-2 pitch 428 feet for a three-run homer to put the Yankees up 6-5.
Turns out he was just getting started.
Rice tied a career high with seven RBIs, reached base four times and fell a triple short of the cycle in the Yankees’ 12-8 win over the Cardinals on Saturday. Rice last recorded seven RBIs in a game last July against the Boston Red Sox, when he became the first Yankees rookie to homer three times. This time, he mixed up the scoring. Rice started his night by drawing a walk and coming around to score, and he added a bases-clearing double in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh. New York (66-57) padded its lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the American League wild-card standings to 2 1/2 games with the victory.
“To break out like he did with traffic out there all day long,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Seven steaks, that’s a pretty big night.”
Rice Rakes 💪 pic.twitter.com/E0rOYVCuyb
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 17, 2025
The Yankees trailed the Cardinals by two runs after the third inning but rallied despite another shaky outing from Max Fried, who gave up seven earned runs on eight hits before being pulled without recording an out in the sixth inning. But Gray hardly fared better (five innings pitched, six earned runs, nine hits), and the top of the order tandem of Rice and Trent Grisham helped spark an offensive barrage against a feeble Cardinals pitching staff.
New York pounded out 15 hits, with Grisham recording four and reaching base five times. Aaron Judge homered, doubled and walked twice, and Caballero and Jasson Domínguez each had two-hit nights. The offensive performance was all the more encouraging given New York was without Giancarlo Stanton for the second straight game, following a stretch in which he played the field for three consecutive games before Friday. Boone explained Stanton’s recovery has been tougher than expected but also noted the extra rest had more to do with Stanton’s lower body and not his elbow. Cody Bellinger (illness) was also held out of the starting lineup, as was Paul Goldschmidt (low-grade knee sprain), though Goldschmidt was used as a defensive replacement in Friday’s game and was available off the bench if needed Saturday.
“On a night like tonight, and any night where we have guys that are down that we normally have in the lineup, it just speaks to how deep we are,” Rice said. “We have so many guys up and down the lineup, everyday guys or not, that can contribute in different ways. We have a really good lineup.”
Rice has been one of New York’s hottest hitters over the last week and entered play Saturday hitting .300/.371/.467 over his last eight games. He’s also been one of baseball’s unluckiest this season in regard to quality of contact. Rice’s hard-hit percentage of 55.2 percent is the eighth-highest mark in baseball. Rice also ranks in the top 6 percent in many of baseball’s contact metrics, including average exit velocity (93.4 miles per hour, 97th percentile), barrel percentage (15.7 percent, 94th percentile) and expected slugging percentage (.555, 96th percentile).
But he hasn’t been consistently rewarded. Before Saturday’s game, Rice had the second-highest difference between xwOBA (402) and actual wOBA (.341). His .235 average is a far cry from his expected mark of .289. Boone credited Rice’s consistency, saying that not much has changed from an approach perspective.
“He’s hit the ball hard all year,” Boone said. “We talk about unlucky and all that — he’s the poster child. He’s had so many balls on the screws for outs this year.”
“He’s definitely in a good place at the plate,” Boone added. “I think he’s doing a great job of controlling the zone while still making sure he’s going up there aggressively looking for his pitch.”
Caution: The Rice is Hot 🍚 pic.twitter.com/9cKBU8jVvv
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 17, 2025
The Yankees have won back-to-back series for the first time since May 23-28, when New York went 5-1 against the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels. The Yankees will go for the sweep of St. Louis on Sunday and are hopeful more of their reinforcements will be available then. Boone was optimistic Bellinger and Goldschmidt could be options for Sunday’s starting lineup, but was unsure of Stanton’s status.
Regardless, Saturday’s production was a welcome sight for the skipper, who described it as a “great offensive performance.”
“Up and down the lineup, just a ton of tough, gritty at-bats, and a lot of damage mixed in there,” he said. “Obviously a really good night for us offensively.”
(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)