Austin Wells had already made up his mind by the time he saw Luis Rojas. Asked Sunday whether he noticed his third base coach's stop sign before being thrown out in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees catcher was straightforward about the timing.
“After I was passing second base, I did,” Wells told YES Network after the game. “Saw his hands up, I was already committed.”
The play ended New York's best chance in a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field. With two outs in the eighth and the Yankees trailing by a run, Wells slashed a line drive down the right-field line that broke up Drew Rasmussen's no-hit bid. Rather than settle for second, he rounded the bag and kept going.
The Rays executed it perfectly. Victor Mesa Jr. fired a relay to shortstop Taylor Walls, whose throw reached Junior Caminero in plenty of time. Aerial replays showed Rojas with both hands raised well before Wells reached second.
Wells explained the thinking without hiding behind it. “I was being aggressive,” he said. “We didn't really have much going on there in the game, so every 90 feet matters. Obviously, I have full trust in the guys behind me. But I was trying to make something happen.”
He did not dress up the result either. “Obviously, I wanted to be safe,” Wells said, adding he would have loved to be standing on second instead.
Aaron Boone did not defend the decision. “Just obviously not a good decision there,” the manager said. “Not sure if he saw something on his way between first and second that caused him to go there. But, obviously, a mistake there.”
The context makes it sting more. Wells ranks in the 16th percentile among major league hitters in sprint speed, and making the third out at third base is among the sport's oldest cautionary rules. His double was also the Yankees' only hit, the fewest in any of the franchise's 447 postseason games.
Rasmussen was that good. He allowed one hit and two walks over eight scoreless innings, retiring 15 straight between Ben Rice's third-inning walk and Wells' double. Bryan Baker closed it out in the ninth. Game 2 is Monday night.