Tyler Wells falters again in Orioles’ 8-3 loss to Yankees in front of sellout crowd at Camden Yards – The Denver Post

Mike Elias on Friday said the increasing workloads of his young starting rotation is “becoming more of a conversation.”

It might be even more so if Tyler Wells continues pitching the way he has in the second half.

Wells, the Orioles’ best starting pitcher before the All-Star break, struggled again Saturday night in an 8-3 loss to the New York Yankees. The announced crowd of 42,829 — the second sellout at Camden Yards this season — witnessed Wells fail to make it through three innings for the second time in three starts.

“It’s a long season,” Wells said. “You’re going to have some rough starts. It is what it is. That’s part of the job. We all have tough days at work.”

The relief behind Wells, who surrendered three runs, wasn’t much better, as Mike Baumann gave up one run and Cole Irvin allowed four in the sixth.

Ryan Mountcastle blasted a solo home run in the second and Ramón Urías hit an RBI single later in the inning to give the Orioles an early 2-1 lead, but they could only manage three more hits and one additional run in the final seven frames. Baltimore’s final run crossed the plate on a groundout by Anthony Santander that brought the Orioles within one run in the fifth.

A month ago, Wells was seen as an All-Star candidate, posting a 3.18 ERA and 0.927 WHIP in the first half. He covered at least five innings in each of his first 17 starts.

In three second-half starts, the 6-foot-8 right-hander has allowed 11 runs and 19 base runners in just nine innings. He’s failed to record more than 13 outs in each of the three outings.

Wells was pulled after 63 pitches. In his past five starts, he’s averaged just 73 pitches and hasn’t thrown more than 86 in any of them. The 28-year-old is one of three starters in the Orioles’ rotation within 20 innings of their single-season highs at any level, including Dean Kremer and Grayson Rodriguez.

“We’re trying to be mindful of indicators that they might be exhibiting that might be reason to pull back other than just sort of the academic concept of, like, ‘Oh, hey, look how many innings this guy’s thrown, let’s back that off,’” said Elias, the Orioles’ executive vice president and general manager. “There’s really not a ton of science, or any science, there. We try to use common sense. We try to use our expertise.

“I don’t know that a single member of our rotation right now wants to go leave the rotation in some way shape or form. There’s that, too. They’re having the season of their lives, they’re competing, the team’s in first, they’ve got their whole careers ahead of them.”

Baltimore is 63-41 and still atop the American League standings, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays and eight games up on the Yankees, who are in last place in the AL East.

One of the few positives Saturday was the crowd at Oriole Park. While many seats were filled with Yankees fans, the yard was packed, and the team opened up the left field upper deck seats for one of the few times this season.

The only other sellout crowd this season was Baltimore’s home opener, also against the Yankees. The crowd was the largest at Camden Yards for a non-home opening game since Aug. 19, 2017.

Wells gave up a solo home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the first and pitched a scoreless second, but he ran into trouble in the third in the way that’s hurt him often this season — the long ball. Aaron Judge, playing in his second game back from the injured list, launched a high fastball 442 feet to left-center field to put the Yankees up 3-2. The big fly was the 25th Wells allowed in 20 starts. All but one of them have been one- or two-run home runs, a significant reason Wells has a solid 3.80 ERA.

“It just didn’t look like he had his best stuff,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

Wells said “control was by far the biggest issue” Saturday, and that’s been the case in the second half. He’s walked nine batters and hit three in his past nine frames.

“I don’t think it’s been a stuff issue,” Wells said. “I think it’s been a location, execution issue.”

Despite throwing more innings so far this season than all of last year, his first as a big league starter, Wells said he doesn’t believe fatigue is a factor to his recent rough patch. The only season in Wells’ career in which he’s thrown more than the 113 2/3 innings he’s pitched in 2023 was in the minors in 2018. He missed the next two seasons after undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in 2019.

“Physically, I feel fine,” Wells said.

After hitting Anthony Rizzo and walking DJ LeMahieu with two outs, Hyde pulled Wells for Baumann. The last time Hyde removed Wells earlier than normal, the Orioles won a pivotal game against the Rays.

“Yeah,” Hyde said when asked if there’s trust in Wells considering his first half, “but I’m also trying to win the game. For me, if the guy’s stuff doesn’t look like Tyler Wells and he’s walking people and hitting Rizzo with a curveball, for me, that’s not who he is.”

The Yankees’ run off Baumann in the fourth scored on a sacrifice fly from Gleyber Torres. In the sixth, Kyle Higashioka homered off Irvin and Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in three with a bases-clearing double. Bryan Baker and Cionel Pérez combined to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings to get the Orioles’ bullpen through the game after Irvin only managed 1 1/3 innings.

The Orioles on Sunday will attempt to win the season series against the Yankees for the first time since 2016. The game will be broadcast on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” the first time Camden Yards has hosted it since August 2018.

Around the horn

• Catcher Adley Rutschman hit in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career Saturday. Hyde said before the game that he values the plate discipline and approach Rutschman provides atop the order. Gunnar Henderson, the Orioles’ typical leadoff hitter in recent weeks, hit in the No. 2 hole. Rutschman went 0-for-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch.
• Two days after former Orioles outfielder Adam Jones served as the Bird Bath Splash Zone’s first “guest splasher” of the season Friday, the club announced it would have a new guest Sunday. Gov. Wes Moore will be in Section 86 to potentially spray fans with water during the Orioles’ night game against the Yankees.
• After Dean Kremer takes the mound Sunday, right-handers Kyle Gibson, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Wells are projected to pitch the four games against the Toronto Blue Jays beginning Monday, the club announced.
• Left-handed pitching prospect DL Hall threw two innings for the Orioles’ Florida Complex League team on Friday, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out six. Elias said Hall, the club’s top pitching prospect, has seen an uptick in his velocity after spending the past few months focusing on strength training over pitching. His outing Friday was his second since mid-June.

Yankees at Orioles

Sunday, 7:10 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

()