Austin Wells' timely hit, Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s speed fuel Yankees' 'scrappy' win over Red Sox

The Yankees needed everyone to pull out the Game 2 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night, and that included catcher Austin Wells.

Wells, who has had a down sophomore season, delivered the go-ahead hit in the eighth inning of a tense contest with the Yankees' eternal rivals. In the eighth inning of a 3-3 game, Wells came up with two outs and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on first base. The Yankees backstop battled right-hander Garrett Whitlock — who had already retired five of the seven batters he faced before facing Wells — and worked him to a full count. On the seventh pitch of the inning, Wells lined a single down the right field line that scored the speedy Chisholm from first base.

The run was enough for the Yankees to stave off elimination and win, 4-3.

"Just got a pitch to put in play," Wells said of his at-bat after the game. "[Whitlock] was making some tough pitches throughout. Felt like I made a decent swing on one of his best pitches." 

After going hitless in Game 1 of the Wild Card series, Wells showed why he is the regular catcher with his defense and ability at the plate. He made some crucial stops when Fernando Cruz made his daring escape in the seventh, and went 2-for-3 with the go-ahead hit. Although the 26-year-old had his first go-ahead hit of his postseason career (16 games) on Wednesday, he gave Chisholm Jr. his flowers for giving him the opportunity.

"That was a huge at-bat, allowed me to come up there with a guy on base," Wells said of Jazz's at-bat. "That at-bat, that was one of the best I’ve seen from him all year."

More impressive was Chisholm Jr.'s speed. He told Wells before he came up that anything hit to right field and he was going home, and the infielder made it ahead of the impressive throw from Nate Eaton in right. It took Chisholm Jr. 9.16 second to run from first to home on Wells' single, which is the third-fastsest time a player has done that in the postseason the Statcast Era (h/T Chris Kirschner).

That extra bit of speed helped propel the Yankees to a Game 2 win, and it took all the team had to even up the series. 

"Took everybody. The defense was unbelievable tonight, great at-bats, great pitching on the mound," Wells said of the win. "This was a scrappy win. Literally took everything."

The Yankees will look to win back-to-back games when they take on the Red Sox in a win-or-go-home Game 3 on Thursday. 

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