In a cruel twist of irony, it was Austin Wells’ presence behind the plate that nearly led Aaron Boone to keep him in the Yankees’ lineup for Game 3 of the World Series on Monday.
But the rookie catcher’s bat, long his calling card coming up through the minors and for parts of this season, was too much of a liability to run him back out there for a game the Yankees needed to win.
Boone replaced Wells with Jose Trevino for only the second time this postseason — and the first time with a right-hander on the mound — though it did not make much of a difference as the Yankees fell to the Dodgers, 4-2, to sink into a 3-0 series deficit.
After Boone indicated that he would take the catcher situation game-by-game moving forward, Trevino went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before Wells struck out as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and finished 0-for-2.
“Just felt like Austin — really hard to take him out from behind the plate as well as he’s doing back there — but obviously it’s been a tough stretch for him offensively,” Boone said before the game. “Just feel like a game to watch, get a little more balanced in the lineup. Maybe it means a better leveraged at-bat for him later in the game. Just felt like Trevy was the call tonight.”
The left-handed hitting Wells had been close to a zero at the plate through 11 playoff games, batting 4-for-41 (.098) with a .330 OPS entering Monday.
He began the playoffs as the Yankees’ cleanup hitter, but after Trevino started for him in Game 3 of the ALCS, he came back batting eighth, with the Yankees hoping it might take some of the pressure off him.
He homered in his first game back but has continued to struggle since then, with pitchers attacking the top of the zone successfully against him.
“I don’t know [what to make of Wells’ struggles] because I think he’s a really good hitter,” Boone said. “And even through this, I’ve seen that in the at-bats, but obviously not getting the results. There’s more swing-and-miss in there than he had. I really do still have confidence, even moving forward in the series, that he’s going to have the right at-bat, a big at-bat in a big spot, because that’s who he is. I feel like his DNA is he’s a hitter. But he’s gone through it a little bit.”
After giving up the walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 on Friday night, Nestor Cortes turned in a bounce-back outing Monday by tossing 1 ²/₃ scoreless innings.
He entered with runners on first and second and one out in the fourth inning and struck out Shohei Ohtani and got Mookie Betts to fly out before facing the minimum in the fifth.
Carlos Rodon dealt with a blister issue in Game 2 while giving up four runs across 3 ¹/₃ innings, but Boone said he did not think it would put him in jeopardy of making his next start (which would likely be Game 6 if the Yankees get there).
“I don’t think [it’s] too [significant],” Boone said. “We were paying attention to it, but the trainers and Carlos felt like it was manageable and he was in an OK spot.”
Derek Jeter threw out the first pitch Monday, with Paul O’Neill scheduled to do so for Tuesday’s Game 4.