Austin Wells homers to lead Yankees past Royals

NEW YORK — In a showdown between the two leaders of the American League MVP race, it was Austin Wells — not Aaron Judge or Bobby Witt Jr. — who delivered the biggest swing of the game Monday night.

Wells’ tiebreaking three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the Yankees to a comeback 10-4 win over the Royals in the series opener at Yankee Stadium. As he watched the ball sail deep into the bleachers in right field, Wells flipped his bat toward the Yankees’ dugout. He was pumped up as he rounded the bases — and so was the entire Yankees team.

“I was jacked. I blacked out,” Wells said — using the same turn of phrase as teammate Luke Weaver when he recorded his first career save a few days ago. “I was pissed off about how the prior at-bats in the game had gone. And so it was just kind of a big release of emotion.”

The win helped the Yankees build their lead atop the American League East. They improved to 83-61, 1 1/2 games up on Baltimore with 18 games to play in the regular season.

The 25-year-old catcher has emerged as one of the top contenders for AL Rookie of the Year honors down the stretch, along with the Orioles’ Colton Cowser. Wells is batting .295 with a .511 slugging percentage and .891 OPS in 39 games since the All-Star break.

Asked whether Wells should be considered one of the front-runners in the race, Yankees manager Aaron Boone responded simply: “Yes.”

But even Boone didn’t expect this when Wells broke camp with the Yankees at the start of the season.

“No, not to this level,” Boone said. “Not to the level he’s been at now for a couple of months — hitting in the four-hole behind Aaron Judge, and for good reason.”

That’s what’s most important: Wells has become a cleanup hitter the Yankees can count on, one who can bat behind Juan Soto and Judge as a rookie. And he relishes that opportunity.

“I get to watch two of the best in the game go to work right in front of me,” Wells said. “It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a good challenge for me.”

Afforded regular playing time since Jose Trevino went down with a left quad strain at the end of the first half of the season, Wells has risen to the occasion. He’s become both one of the top offensive and defensive catchers in the American League.

At the plate, his 121 wRC+ (meaning he’s been 21% better than a league-average hitter) is now the best among AL catchers — Wells leapfrogged his counterpart with the Royals, Salvador Perez, thanks to his big game Monday. Behind the plate, Wells has been the AL’s second-most valuable defensive catcher behind only the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, per Statcast, thanks to excellent pitch-framing and blocking.

But it was Wells’ offense that made the difference Monday night.

“He’s been a middle-of-the-order hitter for 2-3 months now,” Boone said. “We’ve all seen that, witnessed that.”

Trailing 4-3 entering the seventh, New York erupted for seven runs in their final two turns at bat — scoring four times in the seventh off Royals reliever James McArthur and three times in the eighth off Chris Stratton.

Judge delivered the first clutch hit in the seventh, a game-tying single through the left side. Then Wells followed with his 13th home run of the season to put the Yankees in front.

“He’s just been really good. Really, really good,” said Alex Verdugo, who also hit a big home run, his 12th of the season, on Monday. “And he’s not scared of that big moment.”

Wells also came through later with a two-out RBI double off the left-field wall in the eighth that capped off the Yankees’ scoring for the night. He finished 2-for-5 with the homer, double and four RBIs.

“He’s pretty electric with the bat. Especially in the second half,” said Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who struck out nine in six innings. “He just kind of took over that game.”

No one was happier to get a front-row seat for Wells’ fireworks than Yankees top prospect Jasson Domínguez, who came up with Wells for their first big league experience last September and who was called up again on Monday afternoon.

“I’m not ‘impressed’ — because I knew what he was capable of,” Domínguez said with a grin. “But obviously he’s doing great. I mean, that homer today was insane.”