Ben Rice tops Aaron Boone's preseason prediction, passes 40 HRs - ESPN

NEW YORK — Ben Rice one-upped Aaron Boone. And then he two-upped the Yankees manager.

Boone predicted during spring training that Rice would finish with 39 home runs this season. Rice hit Nos. 40 and 41 in Wednesday night's 9-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, tying for the American League home run lead.

He smiled and pointed at Boone when he returned to the dugout after driving Mason Englert's first pitch of the game into Yankee Stadium's right-field second deck. Rice grinned at Boone some more after another solo homer in the fourth.

«I think I said, 'Hey, there's 40 for you,'» Rice recalled. «I was joking with him after the 41st one, saying, 'Hey, thanks for inspiring me this year.' But it's all in good fun. Back in spring when he told me that, I knew that secretly meant he was hoping I'd hit 40.»

Rice is tied for the AL home run lead with Baltimore's Pete Alonso, Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero and Houston's Yordan Alvarez. He is hitting .263 and leads the Yankees with 97 RBIs and a .900 OPS, becoming a first-time All-Star and the biggest cog in an offense missing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for most of the season.

Boone deliberately picked an odd total rather than a round figure.

«I was confident he was going to have a really big year,» he said. «Probably wanted to make sure it was just south of a number, maybe to maybe let him know that.»

Rice, who had three hits and a walk, became the 13th Yankees player with a 40-home run season but just the third to reach the milestone during his first three seasons after Joe DiMaggio and Judge. Rice's plate appearances often prompt a rendition of Elton John's «Bennie and the Jets″ from the stadium's organist, and Rice has sparked an often struggling offense with 16 go-ahead