Rice’s grand slam helps Yankees keep pace with Toronto; NY trails by 2 games in AL East with 6 left

BALTIMORE (AP) — Ben Rice and the New York Yankees are keeping the pressure on in the AL East.

Rice’s grand slam in the 10th inning lifted New York to a 7-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The Yankees remained two games behind first-place Toronto — and with the Blue Jays holding the head-to-head tiebreaker, New York can ill afford to lose more ground.

“Just happy with where the team’s at,” Rice said. “Got a chance to still take the division here, and have some important games coming up.”

The Yankees won three of four at Baltimore, and now head home to face another last-place team — the Chicago White Sox — before hosting the Orioles to end the regular season.

It was one of the best games so far in Rice’s young career. The 26-year-old catcher, first baseman and designated hitter had his second four-hit game and drove in five runs.

“He had good swings all day, including the last one which was terrific,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Left-on-left bomb there, going the other way early, laying the barrel on it all day. Good job behind the plate there late.”

Rice has 24 home runs this year in his first full big league season. His RBI single in the sixth tied the game at 1.

Aaron Judge drew a walk to start the 10th, then Cody Bellinger’s single loaded the bases for Rice.

“Bases loaded, no outs,” Rice said. “Just trying to get the guy from third in, so just try to get something elevated in the zone and get something in the air.”

Rice hit a dribbler toward third that would have scored a run, but it would have also resulted in a forceout. That ball rolled foul, and he took advantage of another chance by clearing the bases with a drive to right-center field that put New York up 5-1. The Yankees then added two more in the inning.

“It’s exciting,” Rice said. “Just to come through in a spot like that was exciting.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB