– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — As it turns out, New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells can tell the future.
But before one of his premonitions came true, Wells did his part to make sure that New York’s immediately future included securing the team’s first series win in over a month.
Wells capped a four-run first inning for New York with a three-run home run, supplying all of the runs the Yankees would need in their 6-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon. After a few rough starts that probably cost him a shot at making the All-Star Game, Yankees starter Luis Gil struck out seven in six innings of work while allowing just one run as New York won consecutive games for the first time since winning three in a row from June 10-12 in Kansas City.
The unlikely power surge from Wells in the first was supplemented by two very predicable sources of thunder in the fifth, as Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went back-to-back, with Judge’s home run marking his 34(sup>th of the season and setting the new franchise record for most homers before the All-Star Break, breaking his own mark from 2022 and Roger Maris’ from 1961. Before the Yankees’ first visit to Baltimore this season, Judge came into it after homering in back-to-back ball games against the Milwaukee Brewers, which marked his fifth and sixth homers of the season and also prompted a supposed prediction that Wells made while the team was getting ready for that Orioles series about how many home runs Judge would have by the Midsummer Classic. Wells’ claim was that the slugging right fielder would have 34 home runs and 85 runs batted in, which means that, after today’s happenings, he should buy a lottery ticket.
“That was my guess for what he would have, the last time we were here [in April],” Wells said. “That is unbelievable, really. Getting to be in the dugout and watching him do that, I can’t put into words. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by DC-area photographer Clifford Ray Williams. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 30 pictures in total.
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