Orioles beat Red Sox using small ball, 6-2; Solid start by Wells; Urías has 4 hits

BALTIMORE—The Orioles concluded a successful homestand by playing small ball, getting a solid start and another superb effort from the bullpen.

The Orioles’ 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox before an announced crowd of 12,044 at Camden Yards on Wednesday was their 12^th win in 15 games. With a 16-8 record, they’re eight games above .500. In 2022, their season high was 10 games over. They’ve won five straight series.

Oriole starter Tyler Wells threw a career-high 102 pitches, allowing two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. Danny Coulombe, Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista combined to throw 3 1/3 shutout innings, allowing three hits.

“The team had my back all day, making great plays behind me, bullpen had my back,” Wells said. “I didn’t think I had my best stuff today. I didn’t think I had my best locations. It was kind of a grind out there, to be sure.”

Cano equaled a team record by retiring the first 24 batters he faced this season before he hit Justin Turner with a pitch with two outs in the eighth. Masataka Yoshida grounded out to second, ending the eighth, and Cano has still not allowed a hit.

“I was well aware of it,” Cano said through a translator. “Some people let me know ahead of time. When it came time to enter the game, I didn’t think about it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to break the record, but I’m still glad I was able to get the job done. Hopefully, someone will come around and break that record.”

Cano shares the record with Fred Holdsworth, who retired his first 24 batters in 1976.

The Orioles had 11 hits, 10 singles and a double, three sacrifice flies and two sacrifice bunts. Ramón Urías had a career-high four hits.

“We’re doing the little things fairly well. We need to,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re not going to be first in offense. We’re not going to lead the league in homers. We need to be able to run the bases well, be able to move runners, score runners from third, and we did that well today.”

Cedric Mullins led off with a single off Boston starter Tanner Houck (3-1).  Adley Rutschman lined a ball at second baseman Emmanuel Valdez, and it went past him for an error. Mullins advanced to third and scored on Anthony Santander’s fly to short center.

Yoshida’s home run tied it at 1.

The Orioles used small ball to take a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Run-scoring singles by Urías and Mullins and a sacrifice fly by Rutschman accounted for the three runs. Mullins also stole his 10^th base.

“We’re having our plans every single day that we’re sticking to,” Mullins said.

An RBI single by Turner with two outs in the sixth ended the day for Wells.

With the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, Santander hit a line drive to left that Yoshida made a fine diving catch on. Urías scored for a 5-2 lead.

“It’s not always going to be homers and doubles,” Urías said.

“The goal is this game is to tack on runs and keep the pressure on the defense …” Hyde said. “I like that brand of baseball.”

Wells (1-1) won his first game since July 3^rd, 2022.

“It’s the first time he’s thrown 100 pitches in a long time,” Hyde said. “He’s a great competitor, and I thought he tried to wiggle his way out of a lot of things. That’s a really good offensive club. I thought he willed his way the whole way.”

Notes: Austin Hays, who left Tuesday night’s game with a bruised right hand, was feeling better, Hyde reported. “Pretty sore, a lot of bruising. Hopefully, it’s just a few days.” … Bruce Zimmermann allowed two runs, one unearned, on two hits in six innings as Triple-A Norfolk lost to Charlotte, 2-1. Zimmermann (1-2) walked four and struck out five. Shortstop Jordan Westburg hit his fifth home run. … The Orioles begin their season-long 10-game road trip with four in Detroit. Kyle Gibson (4-0, 3.60) will face Joey Wentz (0-3, 7.56) on Thursday night.

Givens, Tate going to Bowie: Relief pitchers Mychal Givens and Dillon Tate were in the Orioles’ clubhouse before the game.

Givens, who has been on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation, will throw live batting practice at Double-A Bowie on Thursday. If that goes well, he pitch in games there.

“We’ll go from there, see how it feels,” Givens said. “A couple of days , threw live, felt good. It just wasn’t there yet. We’re in the right direction.”

Givens, who re-signed with the Orioles in December after being traded away in August 2020, is eager to pitch for the team again.

“The biggest challenge [is] not being up here,” Givens said. “That’s what I’m trying to do, get myself back healthy. I’ve been fortunate to be healthy my whole career. It sucked not being with the team.”

With a 16-8 record, the team has done well in Givens’ absence.

“We’ve got to give everybody their credit. The whole team is doing well,” Givens said. “Offense is doing really, really good in big moments, doing quality at-bats and the bullpen is doing their job, too.”

Hyde thinks Givens will pitch sometime this weekend.

Tate, who’s on the 15-day injured list because of a forearm injury, allowed a run on two hits in an inning for High-A Aberdeen in his first rehab appearance on Tuesday night.

“It felt good. It was good to be back out there competing,” Tate said. “Just inching my way there.”

Tate estimates he’ll throw four games at Bowie and then return to the Orioles.

It was Jackson Holliday’s first game in High-A.

“That kid’s fun. He’s going to go out and do what he does and excel,” Tate said.