Austin Wells is not trying to sugarcoat his recent offensive performance at the plate.
“Not many words to describe how bad I’ve been,” he said. “I got to do better to pick the team up.”
In what was supposed to be a day off, as has been customary for him for day games after night games, the Yankees catcher entered Sunday’s series finale against the Mets as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning and made his slump even worse in the 7-6 walk-off loss at Citi Field.
Wells took two at-bats in key spots — one with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning and the other with runners on first and second and one out in the top of the 10th — both coming right after Anthony Volpe had drawn a 3-2 walk.
Both times, Wells swung at the first pitch and produced groundouts, the second a double play that killed a potential rally.
“Against [Sean] Manaea [in the seventh], I knew he was pretty heavy heater, especially to the lefties early,” Wells said. “So I was looking for a fastball, was a little late. And then next one, I was looking for something up in the zone to get a ball in the air. It was a little above the zone, which I don’t really know how I hit it on the ground. Was looking to move the runner and drive them in.”
Wells finished the day batting .173 with a .556 OPS in 36 games, but it has been especially rough of late, hitting just 3-for-31 (.103) with three walks and a .291 OPS over his past 10 games.
Still, when Aaron Boone was asked before the game whether he would consider sitting Wells multiple games in a row for an offensive reset, the manager was noncommittal.
- CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “As good as [Wells] is behind the plate, I have a lot of faith and trust in J.C. Escarra behind the plate too, what he brings to the table. Obviously we got to get [Wells] going, want to get him going, because when he’s right, he’s a presence, especially down at the bottom of the order. We got to get him there.”
Elmer Rodríguez has yet to complete five innings, but in his third start as a big leaguer Sunday, he showed some improved command to give the Yankees a chance.
The rookie right-hander lasted 4 ¹/₃ innings while giving up one run on five hits and one walk with one strikeout.
“Felt like I was attacking more, getting more in the zone and having better results,” he said. “I know I got good stuff, so just got to go out there and compete.”
Rodríguez had walked four batters in each of his first two starts, neither of which made it out of the fifth inning, as a fill-in replacement between Luis Gil and Carlos Rodón.
Now with Max Fried on the IL, Rodríguez returned and is expected to make one more spot start before Gerrit Cole returns and takes his spot in the rotation.
Go beyond the box score with the Bombers
Sign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.
Thank you
“Couple strong innings to start the game,” Boone said. “Felt like they were starting to take some tough at-bats against him in the fourth and fifth, some of the lefties starting to have some better looks at him. But overall, I thought he did his job and gave us a real opportunity to win a game.”
The “plan right now” is for Cole to make one more rehab start, Boone said Sunday morning, though that description left some room for changing that plan as the right-hander comes back from Tommy John surgery.
“Just looks like he’s in a good place,” Boone said. “But right now, the plan is one more and then we’ll go from there.”
Ben Rice crushed his 15th home run of the season in the third inning off Freddy Peralta. … The Yankees drew nine walks for the sixth time this season, which leads the majors.
