​How Yankees’ Austin Wells made MLB history not seen in 46 years with base-running blunder originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.The New York Yankees lost Game 1 of the ALDS to the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0. Drew Rasmussen for the Rays went into the eighth inning with a no-hitter before Austin Wells broke it.There was plenty of optimism as he rounded first and was easily going to make it to second base. But he tried stretching it into a triple and was thrown out at third. He broke up the no-hitter, but was thrown out on the bases in a horrible mistake.He’s been blasted for this mistake, but The Athletic’s Jayson Stark highlighted how horrible this was in a different way. He revealed that Wells’ base-running error made MLB history not seen in 46 years.How Austin Wells made MLB history not seen in 46 years with a base-running blunderStark found, with the help of STATS Perform, that of the 532 no-hit bids that were ended in the eighth inning or later since 1974, only one time has a batter who broke up the no-hitter ever wound up being out on the base paths.”The luck number actually isn’t zero for a change,” Stark writes. “But it’s the next-best thing — because it’s happened precisely once. And that was 46 years ago … And also in the eighth inning of a game in which the Yankees were being no-hit … on the road … and losing 1-0.”There is an eerie coincidence with this history for the Yankees and Wells, as they’re seemingly the only other team in MLB history, at least since 1974, that this has ever happened to before.MORE: How Randal Grichuk has been a ‘godsend’ for the White Sox after Yankees releaseIt’s happened twice now in very similar situations, except this time, it was a lot more crushing. Wells’s base-running blunder came in the ALDS.Back in July of 1980, the only other time a hitter has ever broken up a no-hitter while being thrown out on the bases during said hit was Lou Piniella trying to stretch a single into a double and getting thrown out at second base.While that was a mistake, Wells’ base-running blunder is so much worse. It occurred in a playoff game, with two outs in the eighth inning. If he stayed at second, they would’ve had their best chance to score all day.Instead, he tried making it to third base, and made some horrible MLB history that hasn’t been seen since 1980 in the process.More MLB news:Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski makes all kinds of MLB history with 1,000 pitches of 100 mphWhite Sox reportedly have ‘no urgency’ to sign Munetaka Murakami to an extensionHow Mets, Dodgers and Guardians all made same brutal trade mistake amid MVP racesMariners’ Josh Naylor joins Hall of Famer George Sisler with rare SB MLB historyDodgers’ $5.5M postseason hero Miguel Rojas may not retire under one condition