The fried rice jokes were unavoidable Wednesday with Max Fried pitching to Ben Rice for the first time.
But it was important nonetheless for the Yankees to get a taste of that pairing as the playoffs near.
Fried held the Chicago White Sox to one run over seven innings in the Yankees’ 8-1 win in the Bronx with Rice behind the plate.
“It was great to finally work together,” Fried, 31, said afterward. “He’s been working really hard, especially [with] the transition of playing a lot of first base and then catching sporadically and then getting more starts.”
Austin Wells remains the primary catcher, but Rice has gotten more and more time there as the Yankees’ look for ways to optimize their lineup.
Wednesday’s game was the 25th that Rice started at catcher, all since June 18. Entering Thursday, Rice had started six of a possible 18 games behind the plate since Sept. 5.
That’s notable considering Fried, the Yankees’ ace, is in line to start their first playoff game, wherever and whenever that may be.
“If we do make a deep run in the postseason, who knows what comes up?” manager Aaron Boone said. “Getting them together at once, I think there is some benefit to that.”
Rice, 26, is among the Yankees’ more fearsome bats, taking a .256 average, 24 home runs and an .830 OPS into Thursday night’s series finale against Chicago. He typically bats toward the top or in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup.
A catcher by trade, the lefty-swinging Rice made his MLB debut as a first baseman last year and has continued to play that position this season, too, especially against right-handed pitchers.
His counterpart at first base, Paul Goldschmidt, is a sure bet to start against left-handed pitchers, against whom he boasts a 1.014 OPS, compared to a .622 OPS against righties.
But rather than sit Rice against lefties — against whom he has a respectable .754 OPS — the Yankees have the option of using him at catcher on those days, considering Wells also bats left-handed.
Three of Rice’s last five starts at catcher have come against a lefty starter, including Wednesday when Fraser Ellard served as Chicago’s opener.
Should the Yankees face the Boston Red Sox in the wild card round, Boston would almost certainly use left-hander Garrett Crochet in Game 1. Rice started at catcher when the Yankees faced Crochet on Sept. 14.
The Detroit Tigers (Tarik Skubal) and Houston Astros (Framber Valdez) also employ front-line lefty starters.
Any offense the Yankees face in the postseason will be superior to that of the cellar-dwelling White Sox, but Fried came away satisfied with his experience with Rice after striking out seven against four hits and two walks on 107 pitches.
“It was really good to be able to work together and get the feel of a game flow and have him catch me in a game, so if something happens where we need to pair up in the playoffs, we have some familiarity,” Fried said.
Fried finished the regular season 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 195.1 innings over 32 starts, making 27 of those with Wells behind the plate. Fried posted a 2.76 ERA in 163 innings with Wells.
And while he had yet to get their takes on the outing when he addressed the media, Boone said he saw the small sample between Fried and Rice as a positive one.
“Seemed to go really well,” Boone said. “Testament right there of how good Max is. Seven innings, one run. I thought it was a little bit of a grind for him tonight.”
Boone said Fried was “a little under the weather this week, and I thought he kind of battled through it tonight. Didn’t have his great command early and then kind of settled in, got in a pretty good rhythm. But the battery seemed to be pretty strong tonight.”
