HOUSTON — As someone who recently became a father for the first time himself, Austin Wells probably would have understood if Ryan Weathers was not at his sharpest Saturday night, three days after the birth of his son.
“I had a couple months before I had to go back to playing baseball,” said Wells, who became a dad during the offseason. “I mean, he might still be blacked out from that event.”
Whatever Weathers was after a whirlwind week, he delivered what the Yankees needed.
The left-hander, who raced home from Boston on Wednesday morning to arrive just in time for the birth of Paul David Weathers and then flew to Houston on Friday, threw 5 ¹/₃ innings of two-run ball against the Astros on the way to an 8-3 win.
“It’s definitely been crazy, but it’s been great,” said Weathers, who struck out four and walked none. “Son is doing great; mom is doing great. So it was fun to just play baseball and get back out there.”
Weathers’ wife, Thayer, was due to deliver Saturday, but he got a call at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday that her water broke. From Boston, where the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, he jumped in a car service back to New York and arrived home at 9:47 a.m. before his son was born at 10:04 a.m.
“So I had about 10 minutes to get in there,” Weathers said with a chuckle. “It was awesome. I made it in time; it was great. … Things happened pretty quickly.”
In the few days since, Weathers said he “actually got a lot” of sleep, with his son lying on his chest.
“Definitely priceless memories,” he said. “I want him to stay that little forever, for sure.”
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As for his day job, Weathers was able to make it over to Yankee Stadium on Thursday to throw his bullpen session and again Friday to play catch.
Then he flew down to Houston on Friday and by Saturday was able to flip the switch from new dad to big league pitcher against a tough lineup.
“It’s still my job,” he said. “I still have to perform. So go out with that mindset. There’s been a lot of crazy things happening — my job is to go out there and throw up zeroes and try to help this ballclub win games.”
