The slumping New York Yankees sat Ben Rice for Tuesday’s game against the visiting Los Angeles Angels while they continued to work slugger Giancarlo Stanton back into the lineup.
Stanton, who missed the first 70 games of the season with tendinitis in both elbows, made his season debut Monday and went 2-for-4 with a double. But the Yankees fell 1-0 in 11 innings and have totaled four runs on their season-high four-game losing streak, which began with a sweep at Boston.
Rice, who played first base on Monday but has primarily been the DH in Stanton’s absence, will be on the bench for Tuesday’s game. Center fielder Trent Grisham also got a day off as manager Aaron Boone shook up the lineup.
Left fielder Jasson Dominguez, who hasn’t hit higher than fifth in the order all season, will bat leadoff. Stanton, the No. 5 hitter on Monday, will bat cleanup Tuesday.
Rice, 26, has batted .229 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs in 63 games this season, his second in the major leagues. He ranks third on the team in home runs behind only Aaron Judge (26) and Grisham (13). However, Rice has gone 4-for-34 (.118) in his last 10 games with no extra-base hits.
It was not clear what the Yankees planned to do with Rice going forward.
Stanton, 35, began his 16th major league season and his eighth with the Yankees on Monday after eight years with the Florida/Miami Marlins (2010-17). The 2017 National League MVP and five-time All-Star has 429 home runs and 1,103 RBIs in his career.
–Field Level Media
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