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 . En

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