Yankees survive extra innings after 'unforgivable' gaffe by C Austin Wells

The New York Yankees won on Wednesday, and it was not because of Austin Wells' baserunning.

The team went into extras against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday after a gaffe by the young catcher gifted the Rays the final out of the ninth inning.

With the game tied 3-3, Wells hit a one-out single to put the winning run on base. The next batter, Trent Grisham, either tried to sacrifice Wells into scoring position or catch the Tampa Bay defense napping. The result was Grisham getting thrown out at first... and then Wells getting caught in a rundown between first and second.

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Replay showed Wells actually reached second, but clearly thought the inning was over when Grisham was called out. He began walking back to the Yankees dugout on the first-base line, with the surprised Rays easily tagging him out.

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay called the mistake "unforgivable."

"What do you say? It can't happen," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game.

It's been a slow season overall for Wells, who finished in third place in AL Rookie of the Year voting last season but is now hitting .212/.272/.427 with 15 homers in 87 games.

After a mortifying end to the 2024 World Series, the Yankees have built up a reputation for errors on defense and the basepaths. That's how the Los Angeles Dodgers described them and it's now how many of their own fans see them (even if advanced stats point to them actually being decent on defense this season).

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Aside from the Wells mistake, the Yankees committed two more errors on defense Wednesday, one of them being shortstop Anthony Volpe's MLB-worst 16th error of the season. Volpe at least made up for it with a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, right before Wells came to bat.

Fortunately for the Yankees, all of those mistakes became moot when recent trade acquisition Ryan McMahon walked the Rays off in the 11th inning.

The win improves the Yankees' record to 59-49, putting them four games back from the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays.