Yankees' loss to Rays in Game 1 of ALDS should not fall solely on Austin Wells' shoulders

Wells, whose double with two outs in the eighth inning broke up Rays' starter Drew Rasmussen 's no-hitter, said he was "trying to make something happen" when he took off for third and was thrown out by a damning margin. Given many chances to say he made a mistake, Wells never did.

"In the moment, I was being aggressive," Wells said. "Like I said, we didn't really have much going on there in the game. So every 90 feet matters."

Certainly, if Wells were on second, Boone could have pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon , and maybe the Yankees would have scored. Then again, Wells' double was not exactly the latest in a long line of hard contact. And while his manager Aaron Boone called the play "a mistake," he pointed blame for the Game 1 loss elsewhere.