Austin Wells hit two two-run homers, one in the third inning and another in the eighth, leading the New York Yankees to a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.
Wells hit his first homer in the third inning off Erick Fedde (8-8), giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead. He hit his second homer later off Riley O’Brien to extend the lead to 6-3.
This was Wells’ first game with multiple home runs. The rookie catcher is hitting .346 (28 for 81) with five homers and 21 RBIs in 20 games as the Yankees’ cleanup hitter, mostly protecting Aaron Judge when the team faces right-handed pitchers.
“I’m having a lot of fun with it,” Wells said about hitting behind Judge. “I’m accepting it and embracing the challenge.”
Wells is also hitting .327 (35 for 107) with six homers and 22 RBIs in his last 30 games since July 21, raising his average by 44 points to .256.
“You go back, the catching was ahead of where we expected last year and at the start of this year, kind of waiting on the bat to come and it sure has,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
“He puts together really good at-bats and then he’s got that power in there, too. So this is what we’ve seen from him now for probably more than a couple of months, just a real middle of the order presence.”
Marcus Stroman (10-6) gave up two runs and nine hits in seven tough innings to earn his third straight win. He completed seven innings for the first time since May 31 and is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in his last four starts.
“I feel like he’s getting better and better as the season progresses,” Stroman said of Wells, who was New York’s first-round pick in 2020. “Incredible backstop and we all feel amazingly confident with him behind the plate and he’s been swinging it.”
Paul Goldschmidt had three hits off Stroman, including an RBI single in the third that gave the Cardinals a short-lived 2-1 lead. Brendan Donovan added an RBI single after third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. couldn’t secure his foul out on the previous pitch.
