​The Yankees closed out their four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays by splitting the set with a dominant 12-4 victory on Thursday afternoon. After enduring a shutout loss the previous day that capped a difficult stretch for New York, the offense finally erupted, featuring six players with multi-hit efforts, including Ben Rice, whose two homers and five RBIs anchored the onslaught.
New York piled up 12 runs on 14 hits, with their most productive inning coming in the third. The rally began against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen when Max Schuemann and Ryan McMahon opened the frame with back-to-back doubles to knot the score at one. A flyout followed, but Trent Grisham delivered the go-ahead RBI single, and Rice then blasted a two-run homer just clearing the right-field wall to push the lead to three.
No sooner had the ball cleared the fence than the Yankees kept the pressure on. Jasson Dominguez singled and swiped second, Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single, and Jose Caballero lined a third consecutive single that chased Rasmussen from the game, driving in another run. Jazz Chisholm Jr. capped the extended rally with a sacrifice fly to close out the scoring burst in the inning.
The Rays answered with two runs in the bottom half, but New York added another in the fourth when Austin Wells went deep for a solo homer, reclaiming a strong lead. After that, the back-and-forth action cooled, though the scoring window did not shut completely.
Rice continued to dominate on the mound’s opposite side of the ball in the sixth. Casey Legumina walked Wells and allowed a double to Grisham to open the inning, and on the second pitch of Rice’s at-bat, the slugger connected for a no-doubt three-run homer to straightaway center, his second long ball of the game and his 28th of the season. That blast helped cement Rice’s place as a central figure in the afternoon’s offensive showcase, and he is set to participate in his first Home Run Derby during the All-Star break.
New York added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh and eighth. A McMahon double scored Schuemann, who earlier singled and stole second, and Bellinger delivered a run-scoring single after a leadoff walk to Rice and Dominguez’s subsequent hit.
Across the lineup, every hitter reached base at least once. The top four in the order—Grisham, Rice, Dominguez, and Bellinger—went a combined 8-for-18, driving in seven runs, scoring seven, and drawing two walks. The bottom trio of Schuemann, McMahon, and Wells contributed 5-for-13 with three RBIs, a run scored, and a walk, helping the offense maintain pressure throughout the game. Overall, the offense went 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
In a bullpen-oriented start, Paul Blackburn covered two solid innings for the Yankees, permitting a solo homer to Junior Caminero but recording three strikeouts. The relief corps then stepped in to lock down the win: Jake Bird faced a portion of an inning with two hits and two earned runs, Ryan Yarbrough worked a clean 1.0 inning to earn the win, Camilo Doval faced a leadoff walk but followed with a zero in the box score, Brent Headrick delivered 1.2 frames with three hits and one earned run while fanning three, Angel Chivilli locked down two innings and fanned three, and Tim Hill completed a smooth ninth.
Rice’s resilience and power served as the centerpiece of the afternoon’s offensive explosion, and the team’s improved batting approach, balanced by multi-hit attempts from a broad portion of the lineup, offered a clear contrast to the previous night’s struggles. As the All-Star break approaches, the Yankees will look to carry this momentum forward, building on the surge that produced a 12-run outburst and a convincing win to cap the series.