HOUSTON — As someone who recently became a first-time father, Austin Wells might have understood if Ryan Weathers hadn’t been at his best Saturday night, three days after his son was born.
“I had a few months before I had to go back to playing baseball,” said Wells, who became a father during the offseason. “I mean, he’s probably still kept in the dark about this event.”
Whatever Weathers did after a whirlwind week, he provided what the Yankees needed.
The left-hander, who returned home from Boston on Wednesday morning arriving just in time for Paul David Weathers’ birthday and then traveled to Houston on Friday, threw 5¹/₃ innings of double-run ball against the Astros en route to an 8-3 win.
“It was definitely crazy, but it was cool,” said Withers, who struck out four and walked none. “The son’s doing great; the mom’s doing great. So it’s been fun to play baseball and then get back out there.”
Withers’ wife, Thayer, was scheduled to give birth on Saturday, but he received a phone call at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday that her waters had broken. From Boston, where the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, he hopped a car service back to New York and arrived home at 9:47 a.m. before his son was born at 10:04 a.m.
“I had about 10 minutes to get there,” Withers said with a chuckle. “It was great. I got it done in time; it was great…things happened so fast.”
In the next few days, Withers said he “slept a lot” with his son on his chest.
“Definitely priceless memories,” he said. “I want him to stay young forever, for sure.”
As for his day job, Weathers was able to get to Yankee Stadium on Thursday to throw his bullpen session and again on Friday to play catch.
Then he traveled to Houston on Friday, and by Saturday he was able to make the transition from new father to big league player against a tough lineup.
“This is still my job,” he said. “I still have to do well. So go out with that mentality. There was a lot of crazy stuff going on — my job is to go out there and throw zeros and try to help this ballclub win games.”