Ben Rice, Anthony Volpe lead Yankees to series win over Blue Jays

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jun 14, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — With the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays tied at three and Ryan McMahon on second in the ninth inning, Toronto’s Braydon Fisher made the mistake of throwing a flat, 3-2 slider to Ben Rice on Sunday.

Rice responded with a ferocious uppercut, pulling a 381-foot, go-ahead homer to right. With the slugger’s 19th home run of the season easily clearing the field of play at 101.2 mph, the Yankees pulled off an 8-3, series-winning victory to end their first trip to the Rogers Centre this season.

The building had previously been a house of horrors for them, as they lost two ALDS games and 6 of 7 regular season contests in Canada in 2025.

“It feels good to shake hands and be celebrating a win in here, which, obviously, was very difficult for us in this building last year,” said Aaron Boone, whose Yankees also swept the Clevelan Guardians in three games before heading north. “What a good finish to an outstanding road trip against a couple good teams.”

Boone added that it was great to see Rice play the part of hero, as the manager told the designated hitter that he “took some bad swings” earlier in the game.

“He’s being friendly there,” Rice said of Boone’s description. “There definitely were some swings that weren’t very convicted on my end, so to finish the day on a good one like that feels nice.”

Rice, who has been the Yankees’ best hitter this season and now has a .998 OPS, wasn’t alone in providing offense on Sunday. José Caballero added a 420-foot, three-run, game-breaking blast before the ninth inning ended, while Anthony Volpe made an impact in his return to the lineup earlier in the day.

The struggling shortstop, who sat while Caballero started at the position on Friday and Saturday, put the Yankees on the board in the second inning, giving them a 1-0 lead with an RBI single. Volpe, who began the game with a measly .194 average and a .606 OPS, produced the same result in the sixth inning, handing the Yanks a 3-2 edge.

Volpe, who hasn’t played the best defense of late either, also looked good in the field on Sunday. He showed off his range in the first inning, venturing to the second base side of the bag to steal a single from Yohendrick Piñango, and snagged a line drive in the hole to end the game.

“Good to have him involved right in the middle,” Boone said.

The Blue Jays scored their first run in the third inning when Kazuma Okamoto singled and took an extra base on an Amed Rosario throwing error. Nathan Lukes then tied the game at two with a single in the fourth. Cody Bellinger threw the ball away on that play, too, though he wasn’t charged with an error.

Will Warren, meanwhile, needed 98 pitches to complete four innings, though he held the Jays to two earned runs. Jake Bird went on to allow a solo homer to Davis Schneider in the sixth, which tied the game at three.

The reliever now has a 5.14 ERA this season.

Ali Sánchez also had an RBI double for the Yankees, his first hit with the team, in the second inning.

It was the runs that came later, however, that put the Yankees over the top. With Rice and Caballero each homering in the final frame, the Bombers now have seven wins in which the winning runs have come in the ninth inning.

“These guys are playing for a lot,” Boone said. “I feel like we’ve developed a really good hunger to this point in the season. To be an outstanding club, you gotta develop that hunger throughout the year, and I feel like these guys are in the midst of that.”

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