ALDS Game 1 takeaways: Austin Wells’ all-time blooper kills Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Austin Wells, what are you doing?

Unbelievable.

It’s a cardinal sin to get thrown out at third base for the third out, and pure stupidity to even risk doing it in the eighth-inning of a one-run playoff game.

The Yankees were four out away from being no-hit by Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 of their American League Division Series, then Wells smoked a liner down the right-field line for extra bases.

It’s a 1-0 game, so the Yankees’ first knock was going to have the tying run in scoring position with Aaron Boone probably going to his bench to pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon. This could have been Giancarlo Stanton’s big moment.

Instead, Wells ran the Yankees out of the inning. He never slowed down rounding second, then was a dead duck trying for a two-out triple. Right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. played the carom off the right-field wall perfectly and threw in to shortstop Tyler Walls, who had plenty of time to throw to third base Junior Caminero.

Wells slid into the tag head first, was out by five feet and it was inning over.

“I think you have to take risks, but in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong,” Wells said.

Rays closer Bryan Baker came on in the ninth, retired three in a row and the Yankees were 1-0 losers and down a game in this best of five.

Wells’ baserunning mistake was a stunner because he’s always been a smart player. Also, he’s no speedster. And, again, he just can’t get thrown out at third base to end any inning, let alone one with this kind of stakes.

“Just obviously not a good decision there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Stanton did get his first at-bat since April and it was as a pinch-hitter for McMahon in the ninth inning.

Stanton fouled off a high first-pitch fastball, worked the count to 2-2 and then struck out swinging on a 96-mph heater from Baker that was foul tipped.

“I thought he had a really good at-bat,” Boone said. “I thought he was on all four pitches. I thought he was seeing the changeup well. I thought got a good swing off right out of the bat. I liked what I saw. He took the right at-bat. He just didn’t clip it.”

Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda accounted for the only run of the game with a one out homer to right field off Yankees starter Gerrit Cole.

Aranda hit a 2-2 changeup that dotted the outside corner for a 417-foot homer.

“It was down and away,” Cole said. “It got to the edge, but it didn’t get down enough. It’s a pretty steep to pay, but he crushed it.”

Cole worked five innings, allowing one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” Boone said. “I thought they took some tough at-bats against him, specially being a really tight game. Nothing-nothing and then 1-nothing, it felt like it was leveraged the whole game.”

Until the eighth inning, the closest the Yankees came to getting a hit was rookie George Lombard Jr.’s lineout to the right field warning track with one out and nobody on in the second inning.

The Yankees just missed taking an early 1-0 lead, but it ended up being a 346-foot flyout.

Lombard hit it well. The exit velocity was 102 mph.

“I knew he got it good,”

Boone said. “I didn’t think it was that off the bat. When I saw Mesa turn and run, but then it felt like he had a bead on it at the end. So I thought he hit it well enough and I was talking to it, like ‘Get going’ a little bit.”

There’s usually a great defensive play in a no-hit bid and the Rays got one in the top of the fourth from the fastest player in the majors.

Luis Garcia Jr. led off with a blooper to shallow left field that looked like it was going to fall in for a hit, but Chandler Simpson sped in and made a sliding grab.

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