{"id":360484,"date":"2026-09-30T04:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360484\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T04:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:54:17","slug":"austin-wells-rewarded-yankees-belief-in-him-with-huge-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360484\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Wells rewarded Yankees’ belief in him with huge Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Brian Cashman had acted as most expected him to act at the trade deadline, Austin Wells would not have taken his second-inning at-bat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Facing lefty Payton Tolle, this was a game reserved for a righty-hitting catcher. Maybe Ryan Jeffers, who might as well have been looking for a New York apartment considering the months of speculation. <\/p>\n

Or maybe the switch-hitting Adley Rutschman, another potential Yankees target who was behind the plate Tuesday because he was redirected instead to the Red Sox, who overwhelmed the Orioles with their trade package.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Cashman did not pull the trigger on finding another catcher, even a complement, and so Wells \u2014 who had been among the worst hitters in baseball at that point \u2014 only saw his stranglehold on the starting job strengthen<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That move \u2014 or rather lack of move \u2014 sure looked smart when Wells took that second-inning at-bat and drove in the only run the Yankees would need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewYankees catcher Austin Wells reacts after he hits an RBI single in Game 1 on Sept. 29, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The Yankees\u2019 starting catcher (and with all due respect to Ali S\u00e1nchez, their only catcher) breathed even more life into his revitalized season in the Yankees\u2019 9-0 statement of a victory<\/a> over Boston in The Bronx to move one win from an ALDS date with the Rays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (28) hits an RBI single driving home shortstop George Lombard Jr. (96) during the second inning of Game 1. Robert Sabo\/New York Post<\/p>\n

Before the Yankees ran away late in the game, their offense had started with promise but only promise: Prior to Wells stepping up for his first at-bat, the club had gone 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and was threatening to waste another opportunity. In the frame, George Lombard Jr. opened with a single, moved to second on a one-out knock from Anthony Volpe and then watched as Spencer Jones fouled out for the second out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the lefty-hitting Wells \u2014 who batted .122 with a .436 OPS against southpaws this season \u2014 ripped a single through the right side of the infield and was fired up upon reaching first base after giving the Yankees a lead they only padded from there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Wells added a second single off a lefty \u2014 Alec Gamboa in the seventh inning, plus a sacrifice fly in the eighth against Brayan Bello \u2014 to make it two hits off southpaws in the postseason, which is remarkable for a player who had 11 hits (in 99 plate appearances) against such pitching all season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His inability against pitching of all types through the middle of July ensured the Yankees tested the trade market<\/a>. Wells was hitting .152 with a .501 OPS on July 19. As much as they valued his rapport with pitchers and his defense, he had nearly become unplayable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet Wells kept playing and showed enough in late July and early August to dissuade Cashman from overpaying in prospects. At a time when catchers typically are wearing down, in August and September, Wells posted his two best months of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And even though the date read Sept. 29, he showed Tuesday why October may further his revival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Brian Cashman had acted as most expected him to act at the trade deadline, Austin Wells would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[35512,3472,20,5515,9,11,10,321,319],"class_list":["post-360484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-austin-wells","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}