NEW YORK (AP) — Austin Wells led the New York Yankees to a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night with two home runs, one in the third inning and another in the eighth.
Wells’ first homer, a two-run shot in the third inning off Erick Fedde (8-8), gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead. He later hit another two-run homer against Riley O’Brien to extend the Yankees’ advantage to 6-3.
This game marked Wells’ first career multi-homer performance. The rookie catcher is hitting .346 (28 for 81) with five home runs and 21 RBIs over 20 games as the Yankees’ cleanup hitter.
Marcus Stroman (10-6) pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs and nine hits, earning his third consecutive win. This was the first time Stroman has completed seven innings since May 31, and he is 3-0 in his last four starts.
Paul Goldschmidt contributed three hits against Stroman, including an RBI single in the third inning that briefly put the Cardinals ahead 2-1. Brendan Donovan also had an RBI single, capitalizing on a missed foul out by third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. Despite these efforts, the Cardinals were unable to overcome double plays in the fourth and sixth innings and are now 0-7 in the regular season at Yankee Stadium.
Juan Soto contributed with a game-tying double in the third inning before Wells’ first home run and added an outfield assist in the fifth. Soto doubled to right-center field to start the third inning, allowing Gleyber Torres to score easily from first base. Following Aaron Judge’s foul out, Wells hit a 1-1 changeup into the right-center field seats, just out of reach of Jordan Walker.
Soto received chants of “Re-Sign Soto!” from fans for the second game in a row after he threw out Alec Burleson in the fifth inning. Soto tracked the ball off the right field wall and made a strong one-hop throw to Anthony Volpe, who tagged out Burleson.
This assist marked Soto’s 10th of the season in 127 games, matching his total from 154 games last season with San Diego.
In the eighth inning, Jake Cousins allowed Nolan Arenado’s 15th homer, but Tommy Kahnle recorded the final out of the inning. Clay Holmes then secured his 29th save in 39 opportunities by getting a double play in the ninth.
Fedde allowed four runs and four hits over 5 1/3 innings and fell to 1-4 since joining the Cardinals from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline.
**Injury Updates:**
– **Cardinals:** LHP Steven Matz (lower back strain) threw a bullpen session and might be activated when rosters expand to 28 on Sunday. OF Michael Siani (strained right oblique) is expected to play back-to-back games with Double-A Springfield before potentially being added on Sunday.
– **Yankees:** 1B Anthony Rizzo (fractured right forearm) went 0 for 3 but played the entire game at first base during his fifth rehab appearance for Double-A Somerset. RHP Clarke Schmidt (strained right lat) will throw a side session on Saturday, and the team will decide if he needs another rehab appearance.
On Saturday, Cardinals RHP Kyle Gibson (7-6, 4.54 ERA) will face Yankees rookie Will Warren (0-2, 9.68).
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