ST. PETERSBURG -- For the first 180 feet of his dash around the bases, Austin Wells represented the Yankees’ best chance to score in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Rays on Saturday.
Then he turned for third. Suddenly, the Yankees’ best chance to score effectively became their last chance in an instant. The Rays executed a perfect relay to throw out Wells and end the eighth inning en route to a 1-0 victory at Tropicana Field.
After the loss, Wells repeatedly said that he was “trying to make something happen” for an offense that, before his double down the right-field line, had been held hitless by Rays starter Drew Rasmussen through 7 2/3 innings.
“I felt like if I got to third there, I was almost guaranteeing that if we got another ball on the turf there, we were going to score a run and tie the game,” Wells said.
While Wells thought he was taking a calculated risk, manager Aaron Boone had a different description of his catcher’s baserunning.
“Just obviously not a good decision there,” Boone 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.”
On his way to second, Wells did see third-base coach Luis Rojas throw his hands up in the air. But he ran right through that stop sign.
“I was committed to being [at third] and thought I had a good chance to get there,” said Wells, who also admitted that stopping at second with two outs is “probably a smart approach there.”
Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda said via an interpreter that he was “a little surprised” Wells decided to try to stretch his double. Shortstop Taylor Walls was more blunt: “I couldn’t really believe it in my head.”
But that leads to the other side of this play. If Victor Mesa Jr. takes a little longer to dig the ball out of the right-field corner, or if the throw from him or Walls is just a little offline, perhaps Wells’ head-first dive into third base ends successfully and he is lauded for his aggression.
Instead, Mesa recovered well enough after Wells’ liner hit off a side wall and kicked up toward the right-field fence.
“I know this ballpark very [well], so I know what the ball does when it goes in the little corner,” Mesa said in Spanish. “I also knew that Wells is not that fast, so I just focused on getting the ball in and made the play.”
Mesa, who possesses one of the stronger outfield arms in the sport, got the ball out of the corner with a 91.7 mph chuck to Walls, who got the ball out of his glove in a flash.
“I could just feel Wells put his head down and commit to going to third when he was maybe 10-15 feet before he hit second,” Walls said. “I just knew that I had a lot of time, and that I just had to make sure I caught the ball clean and made a good throw.”
The catch, the transfer, the throw from Walls were all flawless. The result was a ball landing in third baseman Junior Caminero’s glove and waiting for Wells by at least five feet.
“We joke about it: Anything you can do to get the ball in No. 6’s hands is a really, really good option,” Rasmussen said of Walls. “Taylor had the opportunity to make a relay on the play, and just as he always is, so sure-handed, so accurate with his throws, and it was a great way to end the outing.”
The Yanks didn’t threaten in the ninth, going down in order against All-Star closer Bryan Baker. They didn’t threaten in innings one through seven, either, as Rasmussen struck out 10 and permitted just two baserunners before Wells broke up his no-no attempt.
New York’s one and only chance to do anything in Game 1 sprouted and wilted in a matter of seconds, thanks to a great relay and some aggressive -- or perhaps overaggressive -- baserunning.
“I think you have to take risks,” Wells said, “but in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong.”