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The New York Yankees escaped with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday despite several blunders. While Anthony Volpe – the player Yankees fans love to hate – was guilty of one of New York’s major miscues, Austin Wells had the evening’s biggest gaffe. The Yankees’ second-year catcher was caught napping, getting doubled up after he forgot how many outs there were in the ninth inning,
While Volpe had his own issues, the Yankees only survived Wells’ mistake because the shortstop hit a game-tying solo home run earlier in the ninth. New York would ultimately win on a Ryan McMahon walk-off in the 11th inning.
Manager Aaron Boone likes what he’s seen from the much derided third-year pro. “Feel like he’s swinging the bat well,” Boone said of Volpe, per SNY Yankees Videos. “I feel like he's made some good adjustments and it's showing well kind of under the hood, and now the last 10 days or so he's started to get some results. Obviously hit some balls out of the ballpark, that helps.”
Anthony Volpe helps Yankees at the plate after hurting them in the field
Volpe's finding his power stroke. After his game-tying, ninth-inning bomb off Rays’ closer Pete Fairbanks, Volpe has home runs in consecutive contests. And he now has six homers in his last 11 games.
The shot was Volpe’s 16th of the season. And fans would wholeheartedly be celebrating the Gold Glove shortstop’s sudden power surge had he not also picked up his 16th error of the year on Wednesday.
Volpe continues to struggle mightily in the field. Yankees fans let him hear it after his MLB-leading 16th error in the eighth inning against the Rays. It was his third error in the last two games and his fifth since July 21.
The poor defensive play and the .217/.285/.415 slash line raise questions about Volpe’s future with the Yankees. But his manager has repeatedly come to his defense.
“As much as, obviously, understandably, Volp’s been a focus for a number of reasons, he’s really good at just [focusing on] today… That’s a big at-bat there. And a tough one with Fairbanks. To go down and scoop that out and put it in the seats was one of the many big moments for us tonight,” Boone said of Volpe’s ninth-inning heroics Wednesday.
