Austin

Wells

Yankees manager Aaron Boone is sticking with the same lineup that was shutout by Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, who carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, and closer Bryan Baker in a Game 1 defeat. It’ll be eight left-handed batters getting a look at Freddy Peralta as he makes his Tampa Bay postseason debut in this one. Here’s the full lineup: Ben Rice (DH), Cody Bellinger (LF), Luis García Jr. (1B), Spencer Jones (RF), George Lombard Jr. (SS), Chisholm (2B), Trent Grisham (CF), Austin Wells (C) and Ryan McMahon (3B).

Wells has three homers in his last five games, putting him up to .185/.284/.326 for the season. His OPS is back over .600 for the first time since May 9.

Luke Murphy nearly escaped a bases-loaded jam for a scoreless 10th, but Wells’ foul popup behind the plate with the bases loaded barely got out of play. Wells then hit a groundball single to give the Yankees the lead, and the floodgates opened from there. With his two-homer game Sunday, Wells now has nine RBI in his last five games. He totaled 19 RBI in his first 100 games.

Wells’ homer off Brian Keller tonight was projected at 430 feet. That’s a new career high by seven feet and a season high by a whopping 34 feet. It was his seventh homer in 237 plate appearances this year. He had 21 homers in 448 plate appearances last season.

Wells returns to New York’s lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Reds following a two-week absence due to cervical headaches. There’s minimal concern since precautionary imaging didn’t reveal any additional neck issues. The 26-year-old backstop went 2-for-12 with a pair of homers during a three-game minor league rehab stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was hitting .166 with four homers in 169 plate appearances over 47 contests prior to hitting the shelf earlier this month.

Wells, who has been sidelined since early June due to cervical headaches, has been playing in minor league rehab games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since Tuesday. Expect Ali Sanchez to return to Triple-A upon Wells’ return on Sunday.

Perhaps more importantly, Wells completed the full nine innings behind the plate in his second rehab contest. It’s possible the 26-year-old backstop will return to New York for Friday’s series opener against the Reds, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him play a few additional rehab games before coming back. He’s been on the shelf with cervical headaches since early June.

Wells is trending towards making it back to New York’s lineup at some point later this week after hitting the injured list with cervical headaches earlier this month. The 26-year-old backstop logged seven inning behind the dish in his first rehab contest.

Wells went on the injured list over the weekend with cervical headaches. Being back on the field and doing baseball activities suggests that this might be a minimum stint on the injured list for the 26-year-old.

Wells underwent precautionary imaging after hitting the injured list with cervical headaches over the weekend. The 26-year-old backstop doesn’t have a definitive return timetable at the moment.