NEW YORK (AP) — Ben Rice hit his 40th and 41st home runs, Ryan McMahon added a grand slam while matching his career high with five RBIs and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-2 on Wednesday night.
Gerrit Cole (10-9) allowed two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. The 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner had a 3.61 ERA and 131 strikeouts over 22 starts and 127 innings following his return in May from Tommy John surgery.
A day after Tampa Bay clinched the AL East title, Rice hit the first pitch of the first inning from Mason Englert (0-4) into the right-field second deck for his fourth career leadoff homer and second this season.
Rice added a solo drive in the fourth for his fifth career multihomer game and finished with three hits. He is tied for the AL home run lead with Baltimore’s Pete Alonso, the Rays’ Junior Caminero and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.
George Lombard Jr. also homered for the Yankees and Cedric Mullins went deep for the Rays.
New York is assured of hosting a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, likely against Boston. The winner will face the Rays in a best-of-five Division Series.
McMahon had an RBI single in the second and boosted the lead to 7-0 in the third with his third career slam.
Englert, brought up to allow Rays starters extra rest ahead of the playoffs, allowed eight runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said left-hander Shane McClanahan won’t recover in time for the Division Series but left-hander Garrett Cleavinger and right-hander Tyler Wells are possibilities. All three have forearm tightness.
Up next
Yankees RHP Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.94 ERA) and Rays RHP Freddy Peralta (9-11, 4.56) start Thursday night’s series finale.
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The Associated Press
