Yankees, Ben Rice hold on for nail-biting win over Blue Jays

Ben Rice is nice.

The Yankees slugger crushed a go-ahead home run, then helped the bullpen hang on late with his defense at first base as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 5-4 on a steamy Tuesday night in The Bronx.

Ryan McMahon added a game-tying, three-run homer, snapping an 0-for-24 skid, while the bullpen quartet of Tim Hill, Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and Camilo Doval combined for four innings of one-run ball as the Yankees (30-19) just barely held on.

They would not have been in that position had it not been for Rice, who belted his 16th home run of the season – tying Aaron Judge for the team lead – off Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease to put the Yankees ahead 5-3 in the fifth inning.

Rice then flashed his glove in the top of the seventh, when Tyler Heineman led off with grounder down the first base line. Needing his full extension as he dove to his left, Rice snagged the bouncer, then got up and flipped to Bird for the out.

That proved to be critical as Bird later hit a batter and Headrick gave up a single – putting runners on the corners but not scoring a run – before Headrick escaped the jam.

On a night when they were without David Bednar and Fernando Cruz because of recent workloads, the recently beleaguered Yankees bullpen stepped up against the Blue Jays (21-27) to take each of the first two games of a four-game set against the defending division champs.

Doval flirted with trouble in the ninth, putting runners on the corners with no outs with the top of the order due up. But he got a comebacker for the first out and a sacrifice fly from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the second out. Then, after he was late to cover first on a grounder to the right side, Doval got Kazuma Okamoto to ground out to end it.

Aaron Boone did not watch the final two innings from his usual spot in the dugout, instead getting ejected for the second time this season after the seventh inning.

He got mad earlier in the game for having to use a challenge on Anthony Volpe’s caught stealing – the call was upheld, at which point Boone chucked his gum onto the field – and then did not have a challenge to use on the final out of the seventh, when Daulton Varsho made a diving catch in center field that Boone seemed to think hit the ground.

His ire on both plays was directed toward second base umpire Brennan Miller, the subject of Boone’s memorable “Savages in the box” rant.

Will Warren was strong for four of the five innings he pitched on Tuesday, largely cruising besides giving up three runs in the fourth inning.

After escaping a first-inning jam, Warren had retired eight straight entering the top of the fourth when he got into trouble again. He gave up a single to Varsho, a four-pitch walk to Okamoto and then another single to Yohendrick Piñango to put the Blue Jays up 1-0.

Jesús Sánchez followed with a single of his own on a flare to left field to double the lead. In the process, he clubbed Austin Wells on the helmet with his backswing, but after being tended to by a trainer, Wells remained in the game.

Davis Schneider moved up the runners with a sacrifice bunt before Andrés Giménez poked another single to left field for the 3-0 lead.

But the Yankees made sure that did not last long, immediately picking up Warren in the bottom of the inning. 

Aaron Judge led off with an automated ball-strike system challenge-assisted walk. He drew a full count, then got rung up by home plate umpire John Tumpane for strike three – only to begin walking to first as he tapped his helmet for the challenge, which turned the strike into ball four.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a walk of his own before McMahon pounced on the first pitch he saw – a 99 mph fastball – and drilled it to left field for the game-tying, three-run homer.

McMahon now has four home runs on the season and three of them have gone to the opposite field.