Ben Rice’s extra-inning grand slam lifts Yankees past Orioles

BALTIMORE – The Yankees ended their final road trip of the regular season with a 7-1, 10-inning win over the Orioles on Sunday, securing a four-game series victory after Ben Rice smoked a grand slam in the final frame.

The blast came in a left-on-left matchup, as Rice’s fourth hit of the game deposited a Keegan Akin fastball over the right-center field wall. The Orioles southpaw had Rice down, 1-2, in the count, but he fired his heater down the heart of the plate.

“I was just trying to get something elevated in the zone and get something in the air,” said Rice, who pumped his fist and hollered as he rounded first base. “Hitting a go-ahead homer’s always fun, so I was excited and the team was excited. We’re late in the season here; every game’s so important.”

Rice now has two career grand slams, as well as 24 homers this season, his first full one in the majors. Throw in 62 RBI, an .823 OPS and a 129 wRC+ for the catcher/first baseman, and it’s no wonder why Aaron Boone already sees the 26-year-old as a “really formidable hitter in this league.”

“We’re seeing the emergence of a true middle-of-the-order bat,” the manager added.

Rice is Nice

Grand Slam for Ben! pic.twitter.com/QVPlv2cn77

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 21, 2025

The Yankees weren’t done with Rice’s slam, as Jazz Chisholm Jr., another port-side swinger, followed with a solo homer off Akin before the pitcher’s nightmarish 10th inning came to an end. Anthony Volpe then knocked an RBI single off Yaramil Hiraldo for good measure.

The Yankees, in possession of the American League’s top Wild Card spot with six games left in the regular season, remain two games behind the Blue Jays for the AL East lead, as Toronto beat Kansas City to clinch a playoff berth on Sunday. The Jays also hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Yankees.

“Every win’s precious,” Boone said after the Yankees went 7-3 on their three-city, 10-game road trip, though he stressed a need for the club to move on with a few more games left to play before the postseason.

Prior to Rice’s heroics, Sunday’s game also saw Cam Schlittler strengthen his case to be the Yankees’ No. 3 postseason starter, as fellow rookie Will Warren and Luis Gil are also in consideration.

Schlittler, making just the 13^th start of his career, held the Orioles to one earned run over 5.1 innings. He also limited Baltimore to three hits while walking one and striking out six over 89 pitches.

He topped out at 100.3 mph.

“I liked 100 miles an hour. I liked ahead in the count a lot,” Boone said of the righty’s performance. “I thought his stuff was, again, really good, but the couple times he got to 3-2, it seemed like he won those counts where they fouled off some pitches against him. He hung around in the strike zone.

“If he lives in the strike zone, he’s capable of being real successful.”

Schlittler’s lone mistake came on a first-pitch curveball to Samuel Basallo in the fifth, as the catcher pulled the breaking ball for a solo home run.

“I was trying to work on the fastball command and trying to refine the secondary, so a little slip-up in the fifth there with command,” Schlittler said, though he felt he had a strong start overall.

The Yankees tied the game up at one in the sixth, as Rice lined a two-out, RBI single off O’s starter Kyle Bradish. That put two men on for Jasson Domínguez, who drove a sharp line drive to the left-center gap. Unfortunately for the Yankees, left fielder Dylan Carlson made a nice running catch in front of the wall.

The Yankees left runners on a few more times throughout the game as their bullpen worked in and out of jams and put zeros on the board, but the offense’s inability to capitalize in regulation didn’t matter after Rice capped his afternoon in grand fashion in the 10th.

With an off day scheduled for Monday, the Yankees can now look forward to a three-game series with the lowly White Sox before they welcome Baltimore back to the Bronx to finish the regular season.

Taking the AL East back from Toronto won’t be easy over that stretch, but the Jays have not played well of late. The Yankees, meanwhile, are a major league-best 28-14 since Aug. 6.

“We’ve got a chance to still take the division here, and we have some important games coming up,” Rice said. “Every game’s going to be more important than the last one, so we just gotta stay on top of it, keep the foot on the gas.”