Ben Rice

The Yankees could carve out a more significant role for LeMahieu if he gets hot, but for now, he's a lefty platoon guy with Jazz Chisholm Jr. having taken over at third base. Ben Rice is sitting today, as he has the last three times the Yankees have faced a southpaw.

Wheeler was lit up for a staggering seven hits, including a trio of solo homers from Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisolm Jr. and Ben Rice, respectively, in one of his worst outings of the year. The 34-year-old fantasy ace struck out six and also handed out a trio of free passes. It would be easy to characterize it as a blip on the radar, but the fact that he's been dealing with a back issue the last few weeks complicates matters.

Jansen was summoned to protect a narrow one-run margin in the final frame at Fenway Park after an entertaining slugfest between the long-time rivals and was unable to convert the save. He struck out Gleyber Torres before serving up a double to ensuing batter Ben Rice, which put the potential tying run in scoring position. He got speedster Anthony Volpe to ground out before coughing up a game-tying double to Trent Grisham. It was his third blown save of the season and second in his last four appearances since July 20.

The Yankees are trying anything at this point. After having Ben Rice lead off for a while, the Yankees had Jahmai Jones in the leadoff spot on Tuesday against a left-handed pitcher and now will give Torres a shot. The 27-year-old has been mildly better in July but is still hitting just .255 in 14 games in the month with one home run and no steals. At this point, the Yankees are hoping for anybody aside from Aaron Judge and Juan Soto to step up and get some hits.

DJ LeMahieu will start at first base and bat eighth while J.D. Davis will be the designated hitter and bat seventh. Rice has acquitted himself well at the MLB level, but has gone just 4-for-44 over the last few weeks, so the Yankees are dialing back his playing time.