Ben Rice didn’t love the early swings he took on Sunday afternoon. They lacked conviction, he thought, showing little of the presence that makes him one of the Yankees’ most important hitters while Aaron Judge is sidelined. Good thing he saved his best one for the end. Rice cracked his team’s second tie-breaking ninth-inning homer in as many games, a two-run blast that lifted the Yankees to an 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday at Rogers Centre. “It just speaks to the mentality of the group,” Rice said. “I feel like everyone’s got that next-man-up mentality. Regardless of who’s on the mound, regardless of the situation, we’re going to go up there and put together a quality at-bat.” Following the script of Paul Goldschmidt’s deciding homer on Saturday, Rice connected with a Braydon Fisher slider for his team-leading 19th home run of the season, a Statcast-projected 381-foot knock that cleared the right-field wall. As he returned to the first-base dugout, manager Aaron Boone said he told Rice, “Man, you took some bad swings today. Right on time for that last one, baby.” “I think he’s being friendly there,” Rice said with a smile. “There were definitely some swings that weren’t very convicted on my end, so to finish the day on a good one -- that feels nice.” José Caballero broke the game open with a three-run homer off Tommy Nance, with New York lighting up a taxed bullpen. Boone said Caballero got to flex his batting-practice power with the Statcast-projected 420-foot drive to left field, noting, “That’s one of those he hits in BP all the time.” Soon, singing echoed off the visiting clubhouse shower tile -- someone belting out the lyrics to DJ Ötzi’s “Hey Baby,” a Blue Jays stadium singalong staple. Those kinds of light moments were difficult to find last season in Toronto, where the Yankees lost eight of nine games, including two in the American League Division Series. This marked the Yankees’ first series win in Toronto since September 2023. “Chip on our shoulder; we don’t like those guys over there, and they don’t like us,” Will Warren said. “So finding any way to win is always a good one, especially on the road.”
