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Yankees’ Ben Rice Roasted for Laughably Bad Move While Playing First Base

Kristen Wong|
Screengrab on Twitter/ @TalkinBaseball_

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New York Yankees

New York Yankees rookie Ben Rice will want this moment back. Badly.

During Thursday’s 9-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Rice made an embarrassing goof while playing first base in the bottom of the first inning. With Toronto up, 1-0, and with runners on second and third, Blue Jays’ Justin Turner hit a soft ground ball up the first base line directly toward Rice.

Rice, who could’ve easily scooped the ball up to get the easy out, let it go to see if it would roll foul. To the 25-year-old’s horror, the ball would bounce off the first base bag, allowing Turner to reach first and Blue Jays’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa to score from third. 

A real rookie move.

Thursday’s game was Rice’s ninth at first base (he previously played 55 games at the position in the minors), and so far this season, the converted catcher has mostly held his own on defense.

But fans still had a field day poking fun at Rice’s recent blunder.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020 and has a bachelor’s in English and linguistics from Columbia University. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. She is a lifelong Liverpool fan who enjoys solving crossword puzzles and hanging out at her neighborhood dive bar in NYC.

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