Yankees gain on Orioles as Austin Wells' three-run homer sparks comeback victory over Royals

In the Bronx, the rookies haze you.

On the same day the Yankees gave their fan base a thrill by finally calling up Jasson Dominguez, another rookie, Austin Wells, made sure the Martian’s Bronx landing would be a memorable one.

Wells’ three-run homer in the seventh inning helped erase a series of defensive miscues as the Yankees came back to defeat the Royals, 10-4, at Yankee Stadium. As for Dominguez, he played centerfield, batted sixth, singled and manufactured the Yankees’ first run of the game

With Kansas City leading 4-3 in the seventh, Gleyber Torres (three hits) singled, Juan Soto walked and Aaron Judge tied the score by lining a single to left for his 126th RBI. That brought up Wells, who pulled a knee-high fastball 404 feet to right-center for his 13th homer and a 7-4 lead. Wells added an RBI double off the left-centerfield wall in a three-run eighth as the AL East-leading Yankees moved 1 1⁄2 games ahead of Baltimore.

“I was jacked,” Wells said. “I blacked out. I was [angry] at how the prior at-bats in the game had gone, so it was just a big release of emotion . . . I don’t really remember much of it, just a lot of emotion. It was really cool.”

That helped ease the sting of the Yankees’ continued defensive deficiencies, as two errors and a fielding miscue gave the Royals two runs.  The Yankees came into the day with a .983 fielding percentage, tied with the White Sox for second-worst in the AL.

An unearned run and a solo homer by Salvador Perez (4-for-4, three RBIs) off Carlos Rodon in the third gave the Royals a 2-0 lead before Dominguez made his mark eight days after the Yankees declined to promote him during their Sept. 1 call-ups.

He singled in the fourth, moved to second on a groundout and stole third with two outs, and when Perez  delivered a wide throw that couldn't be knocked down by Maikel Garcia, the Yankees moved within 2-1.

“I saw the opportunity and I saw the third baseman kind of far away and I took it,” Dominguez said. “The whole group, when we start hitting, it’s going to be good. They’re, like, insane.”

Oswaldo Cabrera walked and Alex Verdugo — whose playing time will be challenged by Dominguez’s arrival — blasted a 2-and-1 slider to right-center to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

Verdugo was in the lineup as the Yankees opted to rest Giancarlo Stanton and use Judge as the DH. Aaron Boone said they’ll continue to “mix and match” and called the roster “a living, breathing organism every day that’s always evolving.” He added that most days, Judge and Stanton will retain their spots in centerfield and at DH, which, by all calculations, makes Verdugo the odd man out. (Verdugo, though, is on an offensive upswing, has hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games and was 2-for-4 Monday.)

Previously, general manager Brian Cashman said that before calling up Dominguez, the club wanted to ensure that he would get regular playing time. So now the plan is to pretty much play Dominguez every day?

“Jasson’s going to play a lot,” Boone said, grinning. “It’s all hands on deck.”

The Yankees led 3-2 in the fifth when their defense bit them again. After a two-out single by Bobby Witt Jr., Perez hit a fly ball to shallow rightfield. The overshifted Torres had to go a long way for the ball and overran it, Soto, who had a better angle on it, didn’t call him off, and it fell in for a hit, chasing the speedy Witt home from first with the tying run. Hunter Renfroe’s homer gave the Royals a 4-3 lead in the sixth.

After being called up last year, Dominguez homered off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in his first at-bat and wound up with four home runs in eight games. He had a .258/.303/.677 slash line before injuring his UCL on Sept. 9 and having Tommy John surgery. In 44 Triple-A games this year, he slashed .309/.368/.480 with seven homers, 25 RBIs and 15 steals.

“We feel like he’s really starting to be at the peak of the season and playing at a really high level,” Boone said. “He’s been knocking at that door, and now seemed like the time to bring him up.”

Dominguez’s reputation precedes him, but even Boone has been surprised at what the Yankees have gotten from Wells.

“No, no, not to this level, not to the level he’s been now for a couple months,” Boone said when asked if they expected this type of production from Wells, who is hitting .309 in 27 games as the starting cleanup hitter. “He’s hitting in the four-hole behind Aaron Judge for good reason. It’s at-bats like that . . . He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.