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Entering Tuesday’s Game 4 of the World Series, Yankees catcher Austin Wells had been struggling mightily in his first ever postseason. The rookie was batting .093 through 12 games and had just one hit against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Wells’ offensive struggles got so bad that manager Aaron Boone decided to start Jose Trevino in Game 3 with New York looking for a spark down in the series, 2-0. That didn’t work, though, and the Yankees were facing elimination on Tuesday night with what would’ve been a World Series sweep.
But instead of putting all the pressure on themselves to win a game, Wells and the rest of the team decided to relish the moment and not take it for granted.
“I think we just kind of needed to say ‘screw it’ and go after it and have fun because some guys may never come back to the World Series again,” Wells said. “So enjoy the game and I think that allowed us to play a lot looser tonight.”
The result was an 11-4 win spearheaded by Anthony Volpe’s grand slam in the third inning. Before that, New York was down 2-1 after Freddie Freeman torched them again with a two-run homer in the first inning off Luis Gil.
But Volpe wasn’t the only one to have a good night for the Yanks. Wells also had a home run — one of three by New York — and finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored out of the No. 8 hole. The 25-year-old’s home run came in the sixth inning and gave the Yankees an insurance run at the time after Los Angeles got to within one run.
“I think that just getting a lead was important tonight and [Volpe] gave us that with that one swing and that was huge,” Wells said. “[It] allowed us to keep the lead and keep pushing and have aggressive at-bats.”
Of his own performance, Wells said it “felt great to be able to contribute with the bat” after going almost an entire postseason without being very productive despite a strong rookie season.
In 115 games, Wells slashed .229/.322/.395 with 13 home runs and 55 RBI while usurping the starting catcher duties from Trevino.
So, as the starter and playing in his first Fall Classic, it’s possible that the moment got too big for Wells. However, all of that pressure subsided once the Yankees lost Game 3 and went down 3-0.
“Last night I feel like all the pressure kind of went away, for me, at least, personally,” Wells said. “We were down 3-0 and I feel like the pressure is on them to win the last game.”
He added: “No one’s done what we’re trying to accomplish, so I think if you put too much pressure on it at this point you’re gonna fail yourself and you’re not gonna enjoy the journey.”
New York is aiming to become the first MLB team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series. Step one was accomplished on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium and now the Yankees can turn to ace Gerrit Cole for Game 5 on Wednesday to accomplish another step in their nearly impossible feat.
“We have a lot of confidence in [Cole] to be able to go out tomorrow, give us a quality start and put us in a good position to win the game,” Wells said.
If New York is able to win and send the series back to Los Angeles while forcing a Game 6, that pressure will continue to build for the Dodgers.
“Pressure is something that I welcome,” Wells said. “It’s good to have pressure, it means we’re in a good spot and people are counting on you so I enjoy the pressure.”
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