Ben Rices ugly stretch hits low point in loss to Red Sox: Hes grinding a little bit

BOSTON — Ben Rice has spent most of the season looking like an MVP candidate. But the past six games have been much more pedestrian, magnified by the rest of the Yankees offense going through a cold stretch with him.  Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.Coming off a breather Friday, the slugging first baseman went 0-for-4 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox.

He is batting just 2-for-23 with a .174 OPS over his past six games, of which the Yankees have lost four. “No doubt he’s grinding a little bit right now,” manager Aaron Boone said.“But that’s part of it, man.

Even the guys that are going to the All-Star Game and are in the MVP conversations, there’s going to be weeks where it’s not easy, where you go through it a little bit. “He’ll be fine, he’ll get through that.Hopefully start getting it going [Sunday].” To be clear, Rice is far from alone in having a rough week.

But it is noticeable because of how impactful he has been for most of the season — he finished Saturday batting .276 with a .940 OPS — with this marking the quietest stretch of his season so far. It comes during a week in which the Yankees have faced a heavy dose of lefty starters — including each of the past four games, with Red Sox southpaw Jake Bennett holding him down Saturday. “I think [Bennett] executed pretty well against him to give him some problems,” Boone said. In a bit of an oddity, Rice grounded out in eight straight plate appearances before striking out in his final at-bat Saturday. There’s still no timetable for the Yankees to get their two biggest bats back from the injured list in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but two others should be back within the next week. Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are expected to come off the injured list during the club’s upcoming homestand that begins on Monday.  Sign up for Inside the...