For the first time in his career, New York Yankees outfielder Vernon Wells stole home.
The steal happened in the bottom of the second inning with two outs against the White Sox. Eduardo Nunez attempted to steal second, but stopped in the middle of the basepath on catcher Josh Phegley’s throw. Second baseman Gordon Beckham caught the ball and immediately threw home as Wells slid in just before the tag.
It was a heads-up play where he saw an opening and took advantage of a preoccupied defense to put the first run on the board.
While stealing home is uncommon, for a guy like Wells, it’s an even bigger deal.
Wells has 108 steals in his career, but has only stolen six bases this year. In fact, he’s only stolen 10 or more bases three times in his career.
As rare of a feat as it is, Wells isn’t even on the radar when it comes to the all-time leaders in this category. According to Baseball-Almanac.com, Ty Cobb tops the list with 54 swipes of home plate during his Hall of Fame career. In fact, no active player even has 10.
At this stage of his career, Wells would be lucky to get an opportunity like this ever again.
One Twitter user posted something even more extraordinary that happened elsewhere in MLB on Tuesday:
It’s just one of those nights that can’t be explained.
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