Yankees' new dynamic duo of Ben Rice, Aaron Judge makes history in win over Rangers

Ben Rice and Aaron Judge . “That’s a pretty good combo there,” Aaron Boone said. That combo has been in the middle of everything early on for the Yankees ’ offense, and that was again the case during Monday night’s win over the Rangers .

After Jack Leiter breezed his way through the first two innings, Rice was able to break through, crushing a first pitch fastball the other way to deep left-center. The blast left the bat at a whopping 106. 9 mph and traveled 404 feet to the deepest part of the park.

“Man, that ball was pummeled,” Boone said. “I didn’t think it was going to go out so I was running hard, but it was cool to see one go out that way,” Rice added. The 27-year-old lefty continued his spectacular start to the season, pushing him into a tie with Judge for second in the league and the team-lead for homer, though it was short-lived.

Judge regained the advantage over his slugging teammate just five pitches later, as he laced a 3-2 curveball 113 mph over the right-field fence for his 11th homer and the Yanks first back-to-back jacks of the season. It was Judge’s eighth blasts over his last 15 games. “I couldn’t let him catch me,” the captain joked.