Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Ben Rice costs the Yankees with an ABS blunder

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Apr 12, 2026 5:02 PM ET

The New York Yankees are quickly becoming a comedy of errors this season.

Yankees first baseman Ben Rice cost the team with a blunder during Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. In the fourth inning at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., Rice was called out on strikes by home plater umpire Dan Bellino on a 3-2 pitch by Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen.

Rice tossed aside his bat as if he was ready to walk to first base and then touched his helmet. As a result, Bellino initiated an automated ball-strike (ABS) system challenge because Rice had touched his helmet.

The pitch was firmly in the strike zone, and the Yankees thus lost one of their two allotted challenges for the game (despite Rice seemingly protesting that he had not intended to initiate an ABS challenge). Here is the video of the bizarre moment.

Ben Rice loses another challenge on a pitch that was comfortably in the strike zone. Rice was seemingly telling the umpire that he didn't want to use a challenge despite touching his helmet pic.twitter.com/lIexKykvxt
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 12, 2026

The Yankees would go on to lose the game to the Rays by a narrow final of 5-4, marking a series sweep and also the Yankees’ fifth straight loss. Meanwhile, Rice’s blunder (especially within the first half of the game) put the Yankees behind the 8-ball and meant that they had to be very cautious with their challenges for the remainder of the contest.

Now just 8-7 on the season after a 7-1 start, the Yankees are being plagued by many of the same issues that tripped them up last season. Manager Aaron Boone’s tactics are back to being called into question, and now the mental mistakes that plagued the Yankees in the past are rearing their ugly heads again.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: