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For so much of this season that’s seen Aaron Judge sidelined with injuries, Ben Rice was the driving force of the Yankees lineup.
So why should the first game of the playoffs, with Judge still out with a strained calf, be any different?
There was Rice, hitting second in the order for Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Red Sox — even with left-hander Payton Tolle starting for the Red Sox — and putting up a line even Judge would be envious of.
Rice homered twice, had four hits and six RBIs as the Yankees pulled away with a 9-0 win. The six RBIs tied a franchise record for a postseason game.
Rice delivered first against Tolle and then against another lefty, Erik Miller, in the fifth, before providing more insurance against a third left-hander Alec Gamboa, with a run-scoring single in the seventh.
To cap his night, Rice hit a grand slam in the eighth.
“He pummeled pitches all night,” Aaron Boone said. “They went after him a little bit and he made them pay.”
Asked if it was his best game ever, Rice said, “I would say it’s definitely up there.”
And the Yankees needed it.
In a game that lacked offensive firepower early on, Rice came through with a one-out double off Tolle just two batters into the game.
The 110 mph shot seemingly set the Yankees up for an early lead, but he was stranded at second.
He came through again in the fifth.
This time, with the Yankees clinging to a 1-0 lead, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy went to the bullpen with two outs and no one on, removing Tolle — who’d pitched well after a shaky second — for Miller.
Rice greeted Miller by blasting a solo homer to dead center.
The 423-foot shot made it 2-0.
Then, with the bases loaded and no one out in the seventh, Rice smoked a 106 mph single to right for a three-run lead.
On a night in which the Yankees got nothing from the rest of the top of the order — as Paul Goldschmidt went hitless and Heliot Ramos whiffed twice in the three spot — Rice’s presence made the difference.
It was a fitting way to open the playoffs for the lefty slugger, who found himself in the AL MVP conversation early in the season, before Judge went down with the fractured rib that cost him more than three months.
Rice, like most of the rest of the Yankee lineup, survived for the first few weeks of Judge’s absence before falling into a slump.
Eventually, a nearly five-week funk almost sank the Yankee lineup, but Rice finished the regular season strong, with a 1.023 OPS over his final 28 games and with 41 homers for the season.
“Just a big-time night by a big-time hitter,’’ Boone said.
It’s unclear how far the Yankees will be able to go if Judge isn’t able to return, but any chance rests on the bat of Rice. On Tuesday, he was up to the challenge.
