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Ben Rice swings during the Home Run Derby on July 13. UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\nPHILADELPHIA \u2014 Hours beforehand, Ben Rice declared his Home Run Derby experience \u201calready a success\u201d because he and his father, Dan, had made it. <\/p>\n
The derbies that took place in their backyard in Cohasset, Mass., were teleported into a different decade and venue, still a father pitching to his son.<\/p>\n
The Rices won. <\/p>\n
Just not the Derby.<\/p>\n
Ben was eliminated in Monday\u2019s first round at Citizens Bank Park, finishing with seven home runs \u2014 better than Jazz Chisholm Jr.\u2019s three last year, but still last in this field \u2014 when he needed at least 10 for a shot at the second round.<\/p>\n
Most participants leave shortly after falling short. Rice \u2014 in his first experience at the Midsummer Classic and breathing in every moment \u2014 stuck around for a long while, taking a seat in the infield and chatting at length with his father and Juan Soto while watching what turned out to be a thrilling finish.<\/p>\n
Ben Rice swings during the Home Run Derby on July 13. UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
In a finals matchup between hometown hero Kyle Schwarber and new Philly villain Jordan Walker, the breakout Cardinals star stole the competition and homered with his final five swings, upsetting Schwarber 12-11 and upsetting a stunned crowd for his first Derby crown.<\/p>\n
Each home run from Walker \u2014 just like from Willson Contreras a round earlier, the Red Sox big bat suddenly hated by Phillies fans \u2014 was met with near silence by a sold-out crowd that wanted Schwarber to win his first Derby. <\/p>\n
It was not to be, Walker outslugging the Phillies slugger on enemy territory in a star turn for the first-year All-Star.<\/p>\n
Rice watched most of it after a competition in which the Yankees revelation, taking swings against the former Brown University pitcher, came in eighth of eight. <\/p>\n
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Ben Rice and his father, Dan, are pictured July 13. UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Which does not mean the pair lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a can\u2019t-lose mentality for us,\u201d Ben said earlier in the day. \u201cGoing to go out there and enjoy ourselves, hopefully hit a bunch of homers, hopefully we win it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if not, it was a success because my dad and I got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
By that measure, it was successful. An entertaining, if brief, night for Rice began with his introduction, during which he was showered with boos by a crowd that jeered every non-Phillie but reserved its loudest jeers for the Yankee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boos were crazy,\u201d said Rice, who broke into a smile as they rained down. \u201cIt was so cool. I always like the saying, \u2018They don\u2019t boo nobodies.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
After strong early performances from Contreras and Walker especially, Rice stepped up needing eight home runs on 20 swings to at least have a shot. <\/p>\n
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He never got going, was jumpy and ahead of many of his father\u2019s pitches. <\/p>\n
One would-be home run down the right field line hooked foul.<\/p>\n
He did not account for the adrenaline rush.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how out front my first swings were going to be,\u201d Rice said with a smile. \u201cI was in the cage, and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to hit 20 home runs. I\u2019m on fire now.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I took my first one. I was like, \u2018Oh my God, I\u2019m going so fast right now.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
After a final swing that did not clear the fence, Ben walked to his father and gave him a hug. <\/p>\n
A slugger became a son again.<\/p>\n
The duo had a great time. Would they do it again?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Rice said. \u201cWe\u2019ll think about it. If I ever got the chance, I definitely would consider it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Hours beforehand, Ben Rice declared his Home Run Derby experience \u201calready a success\u201d because he and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48671,104361,20,9,11,10,321,319],"class_list":["post-295190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ben-rice","tag-home-run-derby","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}