Rich Dubroff

Wells allows 6 runs in Orioles’ 13-1 loss to Yankees, demoted to Norfolk; Martin returns

NEW YORK—After Monday night’s Orioles win, manager Brandon Hyde said it was his team’s most complete game of the season. A night later, the Orioles played a game in which nothing seemed to go right.

Starting pitcher Alexander Wells allowed six runs in 2 1/3 innings, Cedric Mulllins threw a ball from center field that hit second base squarely, and he and rightfielder Anthony Santander couldn’t decide who would catch DJ LeMahieu’s fly ball, and it fell for a double.

In the end, the Orioles lost to the New York Yankees, 13-1, before 30,815 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

Gleyber Torres’ RBI single in the second gave New York (57-49) a 1-0 lead. Wells (1-2) hit Greg Allen to begin the third, and he scored on a double by LeMahieu. Anthony Rizzo singled to center, Mullins’ throw hit second base and LeMahieu scored.

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Giancarlo Stanton had a run-scoring single, and Gary Sánchez’s RBI double was Wells’ final batter. A sacrifice fly by Torres put the Orioles behind, 6-0.

“Second time through the order, they made some adjustments against him,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “A little predictable for me. He left some balls thigh high and took some good swings against him.”

Wells gave up six runs on seven hits in his third start.

“I didn’t throw enough quality strikes,” Wells said. “I fell behind a lot tonight, and when I did throw a strike, they were ready to hit it.”

After the game, the Orioles optioned Wells, who has a 7.64 ERA, back to Triple-A Norfolk.

With one out in the fourth, LeMahieu’s fly to right-center fell between Mullins and Santander for a double. After Rizzo singled and Aaron Judge was struck out by Adam Plutko, Stanton hit his 17th home run, and the Orioles were down, 9-0.

The Orioles (38-68) were handcuffed by rookie right-handed Luis Gil, who was given the start when Gerrit Cole tested positive for Covid-19. Another Yankees starter, Jordan Montgomery, also tested positive.

Gil (1-0) pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four singles and a walk.

“I was a little disappointed,” Hyde said. “I thought we left the zone way too often against him. Starting in the first inning, we were swinging at elevated heaters at the top of the zone and above.

“The guy’s got a great arm. We knew we had to push his fastball down, and we didn’t do that. We got him in a rhythm.

“We were a little too aggressive against a pitcher with really good stuff. I didn’t think we took our best at-bats. Tonight wasn’t one of our better nights.”

Ryan Mountcastle had an infield single in the first when he collided with Rizzo at first. Santander and Austin Hays had consecutive two-out singles in the fourth, and in the fifth, Ramón Urías singled with one out and Santander walked with two outs. Gil caught Hays looking to end the sixth.

Keegan Akin pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit following Plutko.

“An outing like that definitely breeds confidence,” Akin said. “Definitely the best I’ve felt this year. I’ve got to bottle that up and keep it and roll with it.”

The Orioles scored their run against rookie reliever Brody Koerner in the eighth on a single by Mullins and an RBI double by Mountcastle.

Shaun Anderson allowed four runs in the eighth inning, including Aaron Judge’s 22nd home run.

Notes: Mullins has a 12-game hitting streak. … Matt Harvey (6-10, 6.20 ERA) will face Jameson Taillon (7-4, 4.11) on Wednesday night. … Right-hander Thomas Eshelman cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Martin back: Richie Martin, who was activated from the 60-day injured list, is glad to be back. He suffered a fractured left wrist playing center field for Triple-A Norfolk, but he’s expected to play exclusively in the infield for the Orioles.

“It was very frustrating,” Martin said. “It was kind of a freak accident. It wasn’t as planned, but a lot of times, things don’t go as planned.”

Martin can play the outfield, but he’s looked upon as an infielder.

“I’m going to continue to take balls at short and second,” he said. “Wherever they need me, I’ll be available.”

Hyde is going to continue to use Ramón Urías at short and Pat Valaika at second.

“Right now, he’s a utility player for us,” Hyde said. “We’re in August, and guys are going to get days off. Richie going to play in the infield, primarily in the middle. We’ll go from there. I don’t really have a set plan in place.

“We’ve been playing Ramón and Pat. They’ve been doing a very nice job  up the middle. Richie will fit in.”

Martin came in to play short in the bottom of the sixth and was hitless in one at-bat. He became the 49th player used by the Orioles this season.

Minor League update: Reliever Isaac Mattson allowed three eighth-inning runs to Jacksonville in Triple-A Norfolk’s 6-4 loss to the Jumbo Shrimp.

Mattson, who pitched one game for the Orioles earlier this season, has a 9.53 ERA.

Shortstop Mason McCoy had three hits and two RBIs.

Double-A Bowie’s Adley Rutschman hit a two-run home run against Luis Severino, who was making a rehab start for Somerset in its 8-4 win over the Baysox. It was Rutschman’s 17th home run. Centerfielder Zach Watson hit a two-run home run.

Designated hitter Yusniel Diaz, who is rehabbing a turf toe with Bowie this week, was hitless in four at-bats, striking out three times.

Infielder Greg Cullen has been placed on Bowie’s injured list.

Designated hitter Maverick Handley drove in four runs as High-A Aberdeen beat Jersey Shore, 8-5.

Shortstop Darrel Hernaiz’s ninth-inning single gave Low-A Delmarva a 4-3  win over Down East.

Hernaiz’s hit scored leftfielder Lamar Sparks, who had three hits, including his fourth home run. Designated hitter Cristopher Cespedes hit his 11th home run. Jean Pinto pitched six shutout innings, allowing two hits, striking out six and walking none.

Call for questions: I’ll be answering your Orioles questions later this week. Please leave them in the comment box or email them to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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  • How gosh darn typical of this organization, optioning wells back down to the farm. This from the same organization that claims they don't want to bring up certain youngsters (cough .. Rutschman) before they're ready to stay!

    So Wells got clobbered by the Yankees ... so what? He won't be the last for gosh sake! This continually yanking pitchers back and forth certainly is not working or helping anybody. Where would Tyler Wells be right now had they had the option to send him down? Let these guys work it out why don't we? Sheeeeeeshhh.

    • I agree, give them some continuity. If they are not ready keep em in Norfolk...if they are ready, give em a chance to work things out in Baltimore. I've never seen anything like it.

  • Another uncomfortable morning in the life of a fan of this rebuilding Baseball Club.

    Feel very badly for Alexander Wells, probably the last time we see him in MLB..he sacrificed greatly to pursue his dream of becoming an MLB PItcher.

    I learned long ago that it is a very bad thing to wish your Life away, so I wont do that here. But it sure will be nice when they do start bringing-up the Players of the Future...

    On another note, think I'm starting to figure-out that Elias does have a plan w his Drafting strategy; select as many highly-skilled/above-average hitters (guys who have a eye for the Strike Zone, can put the barrel on the ball, have disciplined swings, and who hit for average) and when it's time to fill out a Roster, trade these guys for capable Pitching.. We just saw a great example of this last week w all the crazy trades at the Deadline.

    This could be a very strong strategy--hitters are easier to groom and pose a lot less risk than pitchers..

  • That was ugly but bound to happen.
    This young pitching corp--Aiken,Lowther,Kremer,A.Wells is kinda showing a little tarnish. Though GRod and an injured Hill loom in the future some of these other younger arms are going to have to also have to show "something". Read an opine/fact yesterday that if Rutschman were going to be added to the 40 man roster it could sacrifice a lot of precious playing time next spring if a play stoppage was to occur(MiLB would continue where as MLB wouldn't). Something to seriously consider. Diaz 0-4 with 3 k's---getting frustrating for all parties. Rich-is Jones' glove that bad where though putting in the playing time he gets by-passed by somenone freshly coming off the 60 day IL?

    • Martin can play shortstop and second. Jones is learning to play second, Al. Martin is their backup at multiple positions. When they bring up Jones, he’ll play regularly just at second.

      • And yet Martin got hurt by learning to play center field wasn't it? They obviously value versatility in the field. Why would they limit Jones to 2nd when he's a natural outfielder?

    • Martin is a natural shortstop, and the transition to second is easier than for Jones, a natural outfielder, who’s not a shortstop.

  • This has been the Oriole way every since Buck and DD bring the young pitchers up and send them back down. Yet Adley is not a complete player yet so keep him down. On another note DJ stinks. He’s gotten his chance and shown he doesn’t belong

  • Rebuild schedule check. The Yankees are a third-place club. In a pinch they bring up minor leaguer Luis Gil; the O's counter with Alexander Wells.

  • What’s wrong with Diaz? Is he just hurt and out of sync? The guy needs to have a good streak for a little while. Hopefully he bounces back soon. It’s good to see Sparks having a good run. He’s been forgotten for a while but maybe making the org take notice of his potential too, along with all of these promising outfielder prospects (Cowser, Kjerstad, Stowers, Haskin, Trimble, Neustrom, Watson, etc.). I wonder if Harvey continues his strong run if Os would re sign him again to another contract?

  • Going up against the Yanks is tough. Huge payroll, aggressive GM, lots of talent.
    It’s survival of the richest.
    Can Harvey be a stopper?
    Stay tuned.

  • I am sad Aussie Wells was demoted but the 1.868 WHIP with the Os seems to merit a return to AAA IMO. Hope Zimmermann is back with the Os soon. Akins three very good IP was encouraging! Good to see Martin get some playing time yesterday, hope he can find the Sep 2019 MLB form (1.055 OPS). Smart to keep GRod and Rutschman in the minors for all of 2021 IMO, keep them under team control longer once the Os become competitive again.

    Urias continues to produce in a firmly above average manner (but not spectacular manner) and Severino is starting to produce too (3rd best OPS on the team in July).

    Not surprising to see the Negative Nellie comments after a 13-1 beat down even though the Os are 10-6 after the All Star break. Hoping M Harvey continues his strong run today and the Os win this series. Keep calm and carrying on Negative Nellies!

  • I’ve seen this picture before and it’ll probably play out like last time…. Aiken, Lowther, Kremer, Wells are the Gausman, Britton, Matusz, Arietta of this decde! Just seems like this organization can’t develop starting pitching but they go on to good careers elsewhere!!

    • Yup. It’s a subject I’ve brought up before. Sho ‘nuff is puzzling how pitchers get great when they leave Bawlamer

  • They send Wells down but Plutko gave up 3 runs and Anderson gave up 4 runs yet they are staying. Is that so they can keep this crappy bullpen together?

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