Rice's Walk-Off Grand Slam Punctuates Patriots' Gem Pitching Performance
The Somerset Patriots defeated the Hartford Yard Goats in walk-off fashion on Tuesday night at TD Bank Ballpark, winning by a final score of 4-1. Ben Rice hit a walk-off grand slam to secure the Patriots’ fifth walk-off win of the season and their first walk-off home run. The play
BEN RICE WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM IN THE 10TH!!! pic.twitter.com/t7e8s0ZzSy
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 23, 2023
The Somerset Patriots defeated the Hartford Yard Goats in walk-off fashion on Tuesday night at TD Bank Ballpark, winning by a final score of 4-1.
Ben Rice hit a walk-off grand slam to secure the Patriots’ fifth walk-off win of the season and their first walk-off home run.
The play signaled Somerset’s first walk-off grand slam in Double-A franchise history.
RHP Chase Hampton (5.0 IP, 0 R, 4 H, BB, 6 K) put together his first scoreless outing at the Double-A level and got a no-decision.
RHP Tanner Myatt (2.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, K) pieced together two scoreless innings, while stranding five baserunners on two preserve a scoreless tie into the eighth inning.
RHP Jack Neely (3.0 IP, R, 0 ER, H, 4 K) pitched a career-high three innings without allowing an earned run to earn his first Double-A win.
C Ben Rice (2-for-4, 4 RBI, R, HR, BB) punctuated the win with his second career grand slam (last one on June 2, 2022 with Single-A Tampa) in the bottom of the 10th
Rice’s 11th multi-hit performance out of 27 Double-A games also marked his 11th multi-RBI game. The grand slam capped his fourth 4+ RBI game of the season, trailing only Tyler Hardman for the most on the team (5).
Since entering the Eastern League on July 18, 2023, Rice leads all members of the Eastern League with a .682 SLG, 1.079 OPS, 33 RBI, 17 XBH and 73 TB, while he is tied for the league lead with 10 HR (Oliver Dunn, Reading).
In five games vs. Hartford this season, Rice is now 10-for-19 with 10 RBI, 5 R and 3 HR.
The performance extended Rice’s team-best hit streak to 10 games in which he is now 17-for-43 (.395 BA) with 15 RBI, 10 R, 5 HR, 4 2B and 3 BB.