Austin Wells’ dry spell is over.
Wells snapped a streak of 50 consecutive plate appearances without an RBI at what looked like the perfect time, but his tiebreaking home run didn’t hold up under Austin Wells’ dry spell is over.he weight of another bullpen collapse Friday as the Yankees lost 4-2 to the Rays at the Stadium.
The 392-blast to right-center field was just the sixth hit and first RBI of May for Wells, who has lost playing time to fellow left-handed-hitting catcher J.C. Escarra. The reaction in the dugout told the story of a team backing its slumping catcher.
“Austin is always grinding for us behind the plate,” said Gerrit Cole, who made his first start since Oct. 30, 2024. “The effort and the preparation are there. When you see that, as teammates it’s just so easy to root for somebody. Not to mention his positivity and the way he takes care of other people. It was an opportunity for us to take care of him. We were thrilled at that point with the swing and the result.”
Wells lined out to end an eight-pitch at-bat during the second inning, which might have set the table for his homer.
“I saw a bunch of pitches in the first at-bat,” Wells said. “I just got a pitch in the middle that I could put a good swing on.”
Friday was the second game this month that Wells had at least three plate appearances without striking out, as his whiff rate has climbed to 33 percent and his squared-up percentage has dropped to 21 percent, according to Baseball Savant.
Wells didn’t sugarcoat his struggles earlier this week, when he said there are “not many words to describe how bad I’ve been.” The fans who have booed him at Yankee Stadium could think of a few synonyms for “bad.”
But the cheers were loud as Wells slapped first-base coach Dan Fiorito’s hand, trotted around the bases and returned to a receiving line of high-fives, forearm clubs and bear hugs — happy to have a 1-0 lead. How much relief was Wells feeling?
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“None,” said Wells, who is hitting .169 with four home runs and six RBIs in 118 at-bats. “I have a lot more work to do.”
Wells later fouled off a pair of two-strike pitches and drew an eight-pitch walk with one out in the ninth, allowing the tying run to come to the plate.
But Trent Grisham grounded out and Aaron Judge flew out to the warning track.
“Wellsy has some good at-bats,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Encouraging to see that. Obviously, it’s been a struggle for him.”
Cole also credited Wells’ game plan and pitch-framing for helping him to navigate six scoreless innings and 72 pitches in his clean return from Tommy John surgery and his introduction to the ABS Challenge System for the strike zone.
