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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Austin Wells spared the Yankees the infamy of being no-hit in Game 1 of the ALDS.
What he did next was almost worse and guaranteed that Saturday night still ended miserably for the Yankees.
Wells recorded the Yankees’ first hit off Drew Rasmussen with two outs in the top of the eighth, but then was thrown out easily trying to stretch a double into a triple, punching his team in the gut on the way to a 1-0 loss to the Rays and a 1-0 deficit in the best-of-five series in front of a rowdy sellout crowd of 40,542 at Tropicana Field.
The Aaron Judge-less Yankees lineup that beat up on the Red Sox for 18 runs in the wild-card series went missing in the first game of the series against their other divisional rivals. Their bats might as well have, too, because they could hardly touch Rasmussen. When they did, the balls found gloves every time.
With the Yankees four outs away from becoming the fourth team in postseason history to be no-hit, Wells got them off the schneid, ripping a line drive that landed on the right field line. He was just over halfway to second base when third base coach Luis Rojas threw up a stop sign, but Wells apparently never saw it. The slow-footed catcher motored around second base and was then thrown out easily at third base on a relay from right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. to shortstop Taylor Walls to third baseman Junior Caminero.
Instead of Ryan McMahon — or possibly a pinch hitter — coming up with a runner on second base for only the second time all night, the inning was over.
The play sent the packed house — unlike plenty of games here against the Yankees, the Rays fans actually drowned out the swaths of visiting fans — into a frenzy, as Rasmussen finished a whale of a game: eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and two walks.
Aaron Boone gave Giancarlo Stanton a chance for a dramatic moment in the top of the ninth, pinch hitting him for McMahon against righty closer Bryan Baker for his first at-bat since April 24. But Stanton struck out on five pitches, as Baker retired the side in order to finish the one-hit shutout.
The Yankees will try to rebound in Game 2 on Monday, with Cam Schlittler on the mound, though their ace won’t matter much unless their bats wake up.
Rasmussen has been mostly dominant against the Yankees throughout his career, entering the night with a 1.81 ERA in 11 games against them. The exception was a start here in July, when the Yankees suddenly solved him for six runs across 2 ¹/₃ innings.
But Rasmussen returned to his shutdown form against them during the final week of the regular season, when he fanned 11 across 6 ²/₃ innings of one-hit, one-run ball, and he was even better Saturday.
The Yankees’ best chance against Rasmussen came in the second inning, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a nine-pitch walk with two outs and then stole second.
But he was stranded there when Trent Grisham struck out looking at a changeup.
Gerrit Cole gave the Yankees a solid start, tossing five innings of one-run ball, the only damage coming on Jonathan Aranda’s home run in the third inning.
