Aaron Judge and Ben Rice match Yankees greats Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra with powerful starts

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Aaron Judge and Ben Rice match Yankees greats Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra with powerful starts

2026-04-28 13:02 Last Updated At：13:20

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aaron Judge allowed Ben Rice to match his home run total for only a few pitches.

Together, the sluggers have now accomplished something for the New York Yankees with their powerful starts that only Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra had done before them.

Rice went 404 feet the opposite way for a two-run shot to left field in the Yankees' 4-2 win at Texas on Monday night, his 10th homer of the season. Judge immediately followed by driving a full-count curveball 414 feet to tie for the MLB lead with his 11th.

“After he hit his, he said, `I'm not going to let Benny catch me,'” Rice said with a smile. “Just trying to keep him honest, keep him motivated.”

They became the second pair of Yankees teammates to each have 10 or more homers in the first 29 games of a season, joining Mantle and Berra in 1956.

“I’m glad that I don’t have to face them, let’s just put it that way,” said Yankees starter Max Fried (4-1), who threw six scoreless innings for New York (19-10).

“Benny’s off to an amazing start. Judgie, ho-hum, 11 homers already,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It's a pretty good combo there.”

Rice, a 27-year-old first baseman, is hitting .322 with 23 RBIs. Judge is at .252 with 19 RBIs.

“Just consistent at-bat after consistent at-bat. Like it’s must-watch TV at this point,” Judge said of Rice. “He's going to put something in play hard or he’s going to take his walk and pass the baton. It's just impressive to watch, and I get a front-row seat. ... And, makes my job easier when he does that.”

Rice deposited a 95 mph first-pitch fastball from Jack Leiter into the Yankees bullpen in left-center field to make it 2-0 with two outs in the third inning. It was Rice's sixth homer in 11 games.

Judge then homered into the left-field seats, the ball landing not far from the spot he hit his AL season record 62nd homer on Oct. 4, 2022. He also had two doubles and was hit by a pitch in his other plate appearances.

“Maybe his best game of at-bats. ... On all four times, stings two doubles, smokes the homer where he just rides out the curveball,” Boone said.

And it came a day after Judge also went deep on his 34th birthday.

Judge has hit 260 of his 379 career homers since the start of the 2021 season and already has four 50-homer seasons.

Rice has 43 homers in 216 career games since his debut in June 2024.

After their fast starts in 1956, Mantle went on to hit a majors-best 52 homers and Berra finished with 30.

When Rice was asked if he could keep pace with Judge all season, he said he's relishing the moment now.

“Yeah, I don’t know how long this is going to last, but I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying it right now being this close,” Rice said before reflecting on the history he now shares with a trio of three-time MVPs: Judge and two Hall of Fame players.

“It’s pretty cool. I definitely would not have anticipated something like that,” he said. “But obviously the three names I’m surrounded with there are pretty big ones, so definitely very humbling.”

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The driver who slammed into an LA bus before a news helicopter crash is charged with murder

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An SUV driver was under the influence of drugs when she swerved into the wrong lane, blew a red light and slammed into a Los Angeles city bus, killing two riders, prosecutors said Thursday as they charged her with murder.

It was a tragedy compounded by the subsequent fatal crash of a TV news helicopter that had been covering the collision.

Bailee Lynn Rios was speeding and impaired when she drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy avenue and struck a vehicle before plowing into a city bus on Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told a news conference.

Rios, 36, faces two charges of second-degree murder in the deaths of the two people on the bus, identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31.

Rios was being held on $4.1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Online court records did not list a lawyer who might speak on her behalf, and the public defender’s office said it had not been appointed to represent her.

Reached Wednesday, her mother Cindy Rios said she was shocked and saddened by the string of events. She said she had not spoken to Bailee Lynn Rios since her arrest and had not been contacted by law enforcement. She could not immediately be reached Thursday for additional comment.

The news helicopter crash killed both people on board, pilot George Marciniw and reporter Eliana Moreno, and a man on the ground, Edy Gutierrez Mejia. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire.

In surveillance footage obtained by NBC4 Los Angeles, the helicopter can be seen dropping out of the sky on a slight diagonal angle and landing behind a few trees and other objects. Moments later, a large plume of black smoke and flames erupt from the crash site.

Hundreds gathered in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday evening for a candlelit vigil honoring the victims of both crashes. Friends and family members brought photos of their loved ones and joined in prayer.

Castillo’s daughter, Johaunna Castillo, said he was on the way home from his job at a car parts warehouse Tuesday, on the same bus he took every day.

“The back was his favorite seat,” she said. “He liked people-watching.”

While she moved to Georgia with her mother and siblings as a teen and now attends college there, she spent her school breaks and summers in LA with her father. When they were apart, he called her after work every single day.

“He would just tell me about all the people he’s met and all the things that happened on the bus,” she said.

That day, he told her he was getting on the bus and would call her when he was walking home. But the call never came.

She said her father was a hard worker, and a bright and lively person who touched anyone he interacted with. His co-workers, friends, and even many people who only knew him in passing have reached out to share “how much of a light that he was,” she said.

“That’s who he was and that’s how he should be remembered — someone who brought a lot of joy and love into people’s lives,” Johaunna Castillo said. Hundreds have donated to an online fundraiser for funeral expenses.

There were no immediate details on what caused the helicopter to go down, but investigators said significant clues could come from the last seconds of video the crew broadcast. In it, an alarm could be heard inside the helicopter’s cockpit as it lost altitude.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said Wednesday that the video is “probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far.”

Just after the beeping starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh.” The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing altitude. The woman says “You can’t pull up?” before the video stops as the chopper nears the ground.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm suggests a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed. He said the pilot appeared to be trying to perform an emergency maneuver to use the wind to force the rotor to spin again.

The NTSB is also investigating the bus collision.

Moreno and Marciniw both worked for Angel City Air, a helicopter contractor, and provided aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52.

Moreno, born in Orange County, joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from Chapman University. She reported for several news outlets and began flying with Marciniw in 2023, NBC4 said.

Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974.

There have been at least eight fatal crashes involving news helicopters in the U.S. since 2000, killing 16 people, according to a review of federal accident records and news accounts.