Austin Wells’ 2 HR’s & Stroman’s Pitching Lead Yanks. NY 6 St Louis 3

August 31, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Austin Wells with his 2nd of two 2-run homers, making it a 6-3 game in the 8th. He also called a great game according to Marcus Stroman.

Austin Wells is starting to look like the leader for the American League Rookie of the Year.

He was before this game, and now even more so as he hit two 2-run homers — the first one putting the Yanks up 4-2 in the 3rd, and the 2nd one giving them key insurance runs in the 8th — in the 6-3 victory on a chilly Friday night in the Bronx.

Marcus Stroman started and had trouble early — he was at 60 pitches in the 3rd inning, down 2-1. But he settled down and got quick innings in the 4th through 6th to end up throwing 7 innings of 2 run ball.

Jake Cousins, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes wrapped up.

“I think Wellsy was great; I think we just had a good mix of pitches just keeping them off balance; I feel like I used all my weapons today,” said Marcus Stroman about Austin Wells’ calls as catcher. “I feel like Wellsy had a great game plan back there, and whatever he was throwing down I was just trying to execute.”

NY improves to 79-56 and remains 1.5 ahead of Baltimore for 1st place in the AL East — having gone up .5 game with a Baltimore loss late Thursday night. St. Louis drops to 67-68.

1. Stanton Double Leads to Early Yank Run

St Louis started Erick Fedde, a 31-year-old right hander who the Cardinals acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline. Fedde was 7-4 3.11 with the ChiSox but hasn’t fared well with St Louis so far, going 1-3 to change his slash line coming into this game to 8-7 3.31. (He would end up pitching 5.1 innings allowing 4 runs to go 8-8 3.43.)

Fedde struck out 2 in the 1st inning (including Aaron Judge, who would strike out 3 times on the day) — but Giancarlo Stanton got to him leading off the 2nd with a Booming double to right center.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.grounded out to move Stanton to 3rd, and Anthony Volpe hit a sac fly to the warning track in right to put NY up 1-0.

2. Stroman Turns It Around for Strong Performance

The Cardinals meanwhile, were working Stroman.

Leftfielder Brendan Donovan worked a 10-pitch at bat to start the 2nd, before lining out. Paul Goldschmidt then doubled and Lars Nootbar got on with an infield single to put runners on the corners with 1 out. But Stroman got out of the jam by striking out Walker and getting a fly out.

In the 3rd however, after getting the first 2 outs, Stroman allowed 4 straight singles — by DH Alec Burleson, 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado, Donovan (for a 1-1 tie), and Goldschmidt (to make it 2-1 St Louis) before getting a fly out for the final out.

Stroman was at 60 pitches already at looked like he would not be lasting long.

But he turned it around — getting an 8-pitch inning in the 4th, a 6-pitch inning in the 5th, and an 8-pitch in the 6th. Stroman was helped in the 5th by Juan Soto — with 1 out Alec Burleson hit a shot to right that Soto played off the wall then threw a strike to 2nd to nail Burleson for an out.

Stroman threw a 1-2-3, 15-pitch 7th inning to finish with 97 pitches, 7 innings, 9 hits, 5 K’s, 0 walks. He left with a 4-2 lead, and wins to go 10-6 3.81.

When asked what changed after the 4 straight singles in the 3rd, Stroman said “Not much. Not much. I felt very comfortable with my mechanics; felt like I was able to execute my pitches. Felt like my sinker was pretty good; when my sinker is good I kind of pitch off of that. That’s my bread and butter when I keep it down in the zone I’m usually limiting hard damage.”

3. Soto Ties It in 3rd

The Yanks came right back after Stroman allowed the 2 runs on 4 consecutive 2-out singles in the top of the 3rd that gave St Louis a 2-1 lead.

Gleyber Torres worked a 1-out walk, and Juan Soto doubled him home to tie it 2-2.

4. Wells 2-Run HR Puts Yanks Up 4-2 in 3rd

Next batter Aaron Judge fouled out, but Austin Wells ripped a 399-foot homer to right center giving NY a 4-2 lead.

Before the game, Yankee fan Maggie unearthed a Tik Tok that Austin Wells made 2 years ago in the minor leagues. Her tweet went viral. Wells had the Yankee Stadium media team change his walk-up music to the song.

5. Cousins Allows HR

NFL star Kirk Cousins’ cousin Jake Cousin pitched the 8th, and got the first 2 batters with his filthy slider, but Nolan Arenado reached out for one and knocked it over the left field fence for a 4-3 game.

6. Gleyber Great D to End 8th, Singles to Lead Off 9th

We were now in a razor close game. With 2 outs, manager Aaron Boone brought in Tommy Kahnle who got Donovan to hit a hard grounder into the hole between 1st and 2nd — but Gleyber Torres made a sparkling stop and throw to 1st for the out. Phew!

Then Gleyber led off the next inning — the bottom of the 8th — as Ricky Riccardo said what Phil Rizzuto used to say so much in his day, “Isn’t it amazing how many times a player makes a sparkling defensive play leads off the next inning?” and soon as he said that Gleyber singled to center to lead off against St Louis reliever Riley O’Brien.

7. Wells 2-Run HR Puts Yanks Up 6-3 in 8th

O’Brien then struck out Juan Soto and Aaron Judge — but Austin Wells rocked him for a 2-run BOMB to right for a 6-3 Yankee lead.

8. Holmes Finishes

Holmes was given a 3-run lead to hold.

He got a grounder to short to start the inning but Anthony Volpe couldn’t handle it and there was a leadoff runner.

Holmes then got a tailor-made double play grounder to 2nd — Volpe fumbled the ball momentarily, then picked it up, stepped on 2nd and RIFLED it to 1st where Ben Rice made a nice pickup for the DP. PHEW.

And then a line out to left for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

After the game, Gary Phillips reported that Austin Wells was interviewed about the Tik Tok video. According to Phillips, Wells “said the #Yankees played it during their hitters’ meeting today. He was already looking for a new walk-up song, & Anthony Volpe insisted on it.” Wells said, “Honestly, I was surprised it hadn’t come out sooner. I had moves back then.”

“She’s digging in there,” Wells said about Yankee fan Maggie. “I like that.”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570498

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