World Series: Yankees' Austin Wells shows signs of busting slump in Game 4 win vs. Dodgers
Yankees catcher Austin Wells tosses his bat on his solo home run against the Dodgers during the sixth inning in Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Maybe Austin Wells was overdue for a big hit — or any sort of hit. Maybe Aaron Boone was endowed by his family history in the game with some sort of baseball-specific power of prophecy. Maybe the manager was just trusting his guy.
Or maybe this is just how baseball goes sometimes.
Whatever the reason, Wells came through Tuesday night, returning to the lineup and helping spark the Yankees’ 11-4 win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series with as well-rounded an offensive effort as he has had in months: 2-for-3 with a double off the centerfield wall, a home run into the second deck in rightfield, a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored.
All that came a day after Boone benched him in favor of Jose Trevino but insisted: “I still maintain I have a lot of confidence in Austin, that he’s going to have a big at-bat for us, the right at-bat for us.”
And so Wells did — a couple of times, in fact, as the Yankees survived to play another day.
“I just tried to slow it down and have fun,” the catcher said. “Didn't put too much pressure on any pitch, any count, any at-bat. So just went up there and tried to have a good swing and really just slow it down.”
That was part of what Wells described as an overarching theme for the Yankees, that they “just kind of needed to say ‘[forget] it’ and go after it.” They still trail the Dodgers, 3-1, in the best-of-seven series, but the way Wells sees it, the burden is on the Dodgers.
“[Monday] night I feel like all the pressure just kind of went away, for me at least personally,” Wells said. “We were down 3-0 and it was like I feel like the pressure is on them to win the last game. That gave me just kind of like that release of pressure there.”
Apparently pressure-free, Wells batted in the second with the Yankees already down by a pair. He launched Ben Casparius’ fastball an estimated 406 feet to center, injecting the Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,354 with a much-needed jolt of energy. Anthony Volpe failed to score from second on the double but came in on Alex Verdugo’s subsequent groundout.
When Wells stepped to the plate in the sixth, the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead, he launched another high fastball, this one from Landon Knack, to right.
“It felt great to be able to contribute with the bat,” Wells said.
He hadn’t done that much lately. After earning time in the cleanup spot during a scorching summer, Wells fell off severely in September, batting .111 with a .217 OBP and .194 slugging percentage.
That continued in the playoffs. He entered Tuesday with a 4-for-43 line, as many hits as double-play ground balls.
One good night, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean he has busted his slump. In the ALCS against the Guardians, he sat in Game 3 and homered in Game 4, then went 1-for-16 with seven strikeouts until this maybe breakout.
But it’s a start. That it came in a game highlighted by a grand slam from Volpe, his close friend and minor-league contemporary, made it even better.
“It's not really a friendship anymore. It's a brotherhood. We've been through it all together,” Volpe said. “I know he has my back through thick and thin. To have a moment like that, for him to have a moment like that is special, but to do it together, you can't trade it for anything.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
