The New York Yankees won Wednesday, but it was not because of Austin Wells’ baserunning.
The team went into extra innings against the Tampa Bay Rays after a gaffe by the young catcher gifted the Rays the final out of the ninth inning.
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With the game tied 3-3, Wells hit a one-out single to put the winning run on base. The next batter, Trent Grisham, either tried to sacrifice Wells into scoring position or catch the Tampa Bay defense napping. The result was Grisham getting thrown out at first … and then Wells getting caught in a rundown between first and second.
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Replay showed that Wells actually reached second but clearly thought the inning was over when Grisham was called out. As a result, he began walking back to the Yankees’ dugout on the first-base line, with the surprised Rays easily tagging him out.
Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay called the mistake “unforgivable.”
“What do you say? It can’t happen,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game.
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It has been a slow season overall for Wells, who finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting last season but is hitting .212/.272/.427 with 15 homers in 87 games this year.
After a mortifying end to the 2024 World Series, the Yankees have built up a reputation for errors on defense and the basepaths. That’s how the Los Angeles Dodgers described them, and it’s how many of their own fans see them (even if advanced stats point to the Yankees actually being decent on defense this season).
The Yankees won, but Austin Wells would probably like that one back. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Aside from the Wells mistake, the Yankees committed two more errors on defense Wednesday, one of them shortstop Anthony Volpe’s MLB-worst 16th error of the season. Volpe at least made up for it with a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, right before Wells came to bat.
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Fortunately for the Yankees, all those mistakes became moot when recent trade acquisition Ryan McMahon walked it off in the 11th inning and gave the Yankees a 5-4 victory.
The win improves the Yankees’ record to 59-49, putting them four games back from the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays.
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