It was the second lineup in a row that featured young slugger Ben Rice at the catcher spot, with Austin Wells increasingly pushed to the side amid a slump at the plate.

Aaron Boone is trying to balance Rice’s emergence with Austin Wells’ development, and it’s become one of the trickier lineup puzzles of the stretch run. Rice has muscled into the picture with his bat and improving glove. Boone praised the rookie’s progress on WFAN Tuesday morning.

The Yankees matched a franchise record hitting nine homers Tuesday night in a 13-3 win over the Rays in Tampa.

With Austin Wells struggling at the plate and Ben Rice swinging an impact bat, the latter found himself serving as the Yankees’ starting catcher for the second consecutive night on Tuesday against

Yankees catcher Austin Wells admits frustration after losing starts to Ben Rice, with Paul Goldschmidt limiting lineup flexibility.

Prior to Saturday night, there was only one first baseman who had multiple seven-RBI games for the Yankees, and his name was Lou Gehrig. He had nine, for the record. Now Rice has two. He joins the multi-7-RBI-game club. The Yankees needed all of that Rice production in a crazy 12-8 win over the Cardinals.

This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Paul Goldschmidt’s Yankees tenure looks short-lived as Ben Rice emerges as the franchise’s next long-term first baseman.