BALTIMORE—Alexander Wells started against the New York Yankees on August 3rd and allowed six runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. That was the start of the Orioles’ 19-game losing streak and earned Wells a trip back to Norfolk.
On Tuesday night, Wells pitched against the Yankees again, and two batters into the game, Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run, his 34th, and the Orioles trailed, 2-0. Wells gave up two more of New York’s five homers in the Orioles’ 7-2 loss before an announced crowd of 10,735 at Camden Yards.
It was a painful loss for other reasons. Trey Mancini, who is the Orioles’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, left after one at-bat because of right abdominal soreness. Mancini missed three games last week because of a sore oblique.
“We’re hoping it’s not very serious,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I took him out of there pretty much for precaution purposes. Just felt it a little bit after that first at-bat. We talked after the inning. We didn’t want to make it any worse, and we’re hoping that it feels better tomorrow and really day-to-day at this point.”
Catcher Pedro Severino was removed from the game after he jogged slowly to first base on a double play ball in the sixth.
“Sevy’s been playing with a little bit of upper leg and groin soreness the last week or so,” Hyde said. “Aggravated it early in the game, and that at-bat running down the line out of the box, it grabbed a little bit, and I took him out of the game for that. He’s day-to-day, also.”
Backup Austin Wynns replaced Severino. The Orioles don’t have another catcher on the 40-man roster.
“These things happen,” Hyde said. “For the most part, we’ve been pretty fortunate throughout the year. We have almost three weeks left, and we have a lot of nagging things going on. That just gives other guys opportunities and we hope that some of these guys get on the mend quick and be OK, but you just never know.”
According to Spotrac, the Orioles have had 23 players on the injured list this season and the 928 games missed is the fourth fewest in baseball.
Wells (1-3) allowed back-to-back home runs in the third as Giancarlo Stanton hit his 28th, a two-run shot, and Luke Voit hit his 10th. In four innings, Wells gave up four runs on seven hits.
“One through nine they’re a quality lineup,” Wells said. “You’ve got to be on your game from pitch one and tonight, I made a couple of mistakes over the plate, and they capitalized.”
The Orioles (46-98) loaded the bases in the first on Cedric Mullins’ leadoff double and two-out walks to Mancini and Austin Hays before Ramón Urías struck out.
Ryan Mountcastle’s double, his 80th RBI, scored Pat Valaika in the fifth against Gerrit Cole (15-7), who allowed a run on four hits in five innings.
Michael King pitched three hitless innings for the Yankees (81-64), who are in a tight race with Toronto and Boston for the American League wild-card spots.
Joey Gallo hit his 34th home run against Spenser Watkins to start the eighth. DJ LeMahieu hit one against Watkins to begin the ninth.
Kelvin Gutiérrez’s RBI single scored Wynns in the ninth.
Note: John Means (5-7, 3.42 ERA) will face Nestor Cortes (2-2, 2.70) on Wednesday night.
Minor league update: Adley Rutschman had two hits and two RBIs as Triple-A Norfolk beat the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 7-2. Rutschman had an RBI triple and is hitting .330.
Shortstop Mason McCoy had a two-run home run. Kevin Smith started and allowed two runs on four hits in four innings, walking four and striking out six. Manny Barreda (2-2) pitched three shutout innings, allowing two hits.
Third baseman Patrick Dorrian hit a two-run home run to lead Double-A Bowie over Altoona, 3-2, in the first game of a doubleheader. Gray Fenter (6-4) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out six and walking three.
In his first game at Double-A, Gunnar Henderson was the designated hitter and went 1-for-3.
Dorrian drove in three runs as the Baysox completed the sweep, winning their ninth straight with a 6-4 win over the Curve, helping their bid for a postseason berth. David Lebron (6-0) allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits in five innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Brandon Young pitched five perfect innings, striking out nine, as High-A Aberdeen beat Greenville, 3-1. Young (1-2) was followed by Jake Lyons, who didn’t allow a hit until there was one out in the eighth. Greenville had just two hits.
Rightfielder Lamar Sparks had two hits and two RBIs. Leftfielder Cristopher Cespedes had three hits.
Preston Price gave up five runs in the eighth inning to the Salem Red Sox in Low-A Delmarva’s 8-2 loss. The loss ended the Shorebirds’ playoff hopes. Price recorded just one out. Third baseman Coby Mayo had two hits and is batting .318.
Leave a Reply