Austin Wells hits 2 homers to power Yankees to 6-3 win over Cardinals

NEW YORK (AP) — Austin Wells hit two-run homers in the third and eighth innings, powering the New York Yankees to a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Wells hit a two-run shot in a three-run third off Erick Fedde (8-8) to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead. He connected again later off Riley O’Brien for a 6-3 lead.

It was Wells’ first career multihomer game and the rookie catcher is hitting .346 (28 for 81) with five homers and 21 RBIs in 20 games as New York’s cleanup hitter protecting Aaron Judge mostly when the Yankees face right-handed starters.

“I’m having a lot of fun with it,” Wells said of hitting behind Judge. “I’m accepting it and embracing the challenge.”

Wells also is hitting .327 (35 for 107) with six homers and 22 RBIs in his last 30 games since July 21, raising his average 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 home now for probably more than a couple months now, just a real middle of the order presence.

Marcus Stroman (10-6) allowed two runs and nine hits in seven gritty innings for his third straight win. He completed seven innings for the first time since May 31 and is 3-0 in with a 2.35 ERA over his last four outings.

“I feel like’s 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 brief 2-1 lead. Brendan Donovan had an RBI single after third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. was unable to secure his foul out on the previous pitch. But the Cardinals hit into double plays in the fourth and sixth and fell to 0-7 in the regular-season in the Bronx against the Yankees.

Juan Soto hit a tying double in the third ahead of Wells’ first homer and added an outfield assist in the fifth.

Soto started the third off Fedde by doubling to the base of the right-center field wall and Gleyber Torres easily scored from first. After Aaron Judge fouled out, Wells lifted a 1-1 changeup into the right-center field seats over Jordan Walker’s leaping try.

Soto heard chants of “Re-Sign Soto!” from fans for the second straight game after throwing out Alec Burleson for the second out of the fifth. Soto cleanly tracked the ball off the right field wall and made a strong one-hop throw to Anthony Volpe, who applied the tag as Burleson overslid second.

“I never expect that,” Soto said of the chants. “Literally, they’re getting loud. It’s fun to see those fans getting loud and going crazy.”

It was Soto’s 10th assist in 127 games. Last season, Soto had 10 in 154 games in the outfield for San Diego.

Jake Cousins allowed Nolan Arenado’s 15th homer in the eighth and Tommy Kahnle got the final out of the inning. Clay Holmes got a double play in the ninth and notched his 29th save in 39 chances.

Fedde allowed four runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander fell to 1-4 since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline.

CROWDED

A crowd of 47,103 fans attended the game when a promotional Judge football jersey was handed out. It was New York’s 15th sellout, equaling its total from last season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: LHP Steven Matz (lower back strain) threw a bullpen session and could be added when rosters expand to 28 on Sunday. ... OF Michael Siani (strained right oblique) was slated to play back-to-back games with Double-A Springfield before possibly being added Sunday.

Yankees: 1B Anthony Rizzo (fractured right forearm) went 0 for 3 and played the entire game at first base in his fifth rehab appearance for Double-A Somerset. ... RHP Clarke Schmidt (strained right lat) will throw a side session Saturday and the team will decide if he needs another rehab appearance.

UP NEXT

Cardinals RHP Kyle Gibson (7-6, 4.54 ERA) opposes New York rookie Will Warren (0-2, 9.68) on Saturday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Larry Fleisher, The Associated Press