TORONTO — It has been a pretty easy trip “home” in more ways than one for Vernon Wells this weekend at Rogers Centre. The former Blue Jay not only collected five hits (including two homers) over the first two games of the series, he also had a free route to home plate while scoring the game-winning run in the Yankees’ 5-3 victory yesterday.
With the game forced into extra innings due to David Robertson’s meltdown in the eighth, Wells sparked the Yankees by leading off the 11th with his third hit of the afternoon, a single to center. After advancing to second on a single by Francisco Cervelli, Wells took off for third on Ichiro Suzuki’s sacrifice bunt attempt. Pitcher Aaron Loup tried to get Wells at third, but there was nobody covering the bag, leaving Loup’s throw sailing into foul territory as Wells and Cervelli both scored on the play.
Wells said he was “shocked” Loup tried to make the tough out at third.
“Guys get in the moment and you make an aggressive play like that and sometimes it works out,” Wells said. “You look great when it works out and bad when you don’t. That’s the nature of this game.”
Call it good fortune, comfort in familiar surroundings or simply being welcome to a fresh start, but Wells’ series in Toronto has been a continuation of his success since joining the Yankees in late March. Following two mediocre seasons with the Angels, Wells’ career was thought by many to be virtually over before the Yankees acquired him to help fill the outfield void left by the injured Curtis Granderson.
Wells, 34, has found new life as a Yankee, hitting .310 with five home runs in 15 games with the team.
Wells is appreciative of being given a chance by the Yankees and he believes his adjustment was made easier since this was his second time switching teams. Before he was dealt to the Angels prior to the 2011 season, Wells had already put down significant roots as a Blue Jay, playing with the team from 1999 to 2010.
“Guys are honored to have the opportunity to put this uniform on and we want to take full advantage of it,” Wells said. “It helps when you’ve been to another team before this. That’s a huge change and to have gone through it already you know what to expect. That makes it a little easier coming to this organization and fitting right in.”
You could have predicted a big game for Wells on Saturday given that Mark Buehrle was on the mound for the Jays and, sure enough, Wells homered and singled in three at-bats against the veteran left-hander. Wells is now hitting a whopping .489 (23-for-47) against Buehrle over his career, with two homers and nine RBIs.
“He’s a guy that throws strikes and I’m usually a guy who’s swinging often. I’ve gotten a few to fall in,” Wells said. “We’re two old guys that have been around a long time and who have had to face each other several times so we have fun with it.”
Wells almost had another hit in the eighth inning when he hit a hard grounder down the third base line, but Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie made a diving play to catch the ball and throw out Wells at first.