Perhaps if the throw home had been better, if Spencer Torkelson’s toss had been to the third base side of the plate for catcher Jake Rogers, there would have been extra innings at Camden Yards.
Instead, Ryan Mountcastle’s foot slid onto home plate before Rogers could dive across, reaching the Orioles first baseman too late. It took a two-strike ground ball from Adam Frazier, a throw to the wrong side of the bag from Torkelson, for Baltimore to come away with a 2-1 victory against the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
It wasn’t the most majestic walk-off win Baltimore will experience this year. The Orioles will take it, though, because in a 162-game season, they must win in different ways. With eight wins in their last 10 games, they’ve exhibited that. Early in the season, the bats slugged their way to shootout victories in which the pitching staff struggled. And now, as a 34-inning scoreless streak came to an end, it’s the pitching staff that has carried that weight.
“We won some games early in the year by out-slugging,” manager Brandon Hyde said, “and the last three games we’ve won because we’ve pitched extremely well.”
The 34-inning scoreless streak — which began Sunday and finally ended Friday night when Javier Báez jumped on a splitter from Félix Bautista left high in the zone to bring home the tying run with two strikes and two outs in the ninth — is the longest from an American League team since the Orioles’ 45-inning scoreless streak in 1995, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
On Friday, it was right-hander Tyler Wells and the bullpen behind him that prolonged a stretch of stout pitching performances while receiving just enough offense to support them. Austin Hays’ seventh-inning homer into the bullpens beyond the left-center field fence appeared to be enough, and when it wasn’t the Orioles bounced back.
Tied 1-1 in the ninth, Mountcastle and Anthony Santander led off with singles, and Mountcastle’s baserunning — going from first to third on Santander’s right-field knock — allowed for Adam Frazier’s game-winning ground ball.
“I was just reading the ball down, making sure he hit it off the ground,” Mountcastle said. “Right off the bat, I just took off and beat it. Got a pretty good lead, pretty good jump and beat it by a good amount.”
The Orioles have enjoyed this stretch of baseball, even as their offense has gone quiet. Baltimore (12-7) has recorded this run of late behind a pitching staff that has turned around its season. Early on, Wells and right-hander Kyle Gibson were the lone starters to provide any length, taxing the bullpen so much early on that the offense had to score in bunches to bail them out.
But now, the pitchers have found their rhythm while the offense momentarily staggers. There were eight scoreless innings Sunday against the Chicago White Sox, begun by right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. Right-handers Dean Kremer and Kyle Bradish continued it with standout displays against the Washington Nationals.
And then on Friday, under the lights, Wells continued the trend.
“It motivates me a lot,” Wells said. “Dean and Bradish did a great job the last two starts, and Gibby’s done a great job all year, so being able to go out there and ride the slope with the rest of the guys is a pretty good feeling.”
There was a time in spring training when Wells seemed to be the odd-man out of the expected starting rotation. Hyde acknowledged that Wells’ past experience in the bullpen during the 2021 season — as he worked back from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery — could make Wells more suitable for a long-relief role than any of the other starting rotation options.
But Wells pitched his way into the starting rotation by blocking out any noise that suggested he might not be there once spring training concluded. And early in 2023, Wells has been Baltimore’s most consistent starter — that is, he has consistently one-upped himself.
On Friday, Wells compiled the best outing of his major league career, cruising through a career-high seven shutout innings with three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. The 14 whiffs Wells recorded were the second most of his career.
“We sit there and we constantly push each other,” Wells said. “Whether that’s in bullpens, whether that’s in catch-play ... we’re always trying to feed off each other, learn and apply that into the games, and so far that’s worked out for all of us.”
Before Tuesday, when Kremer began this run of strong starts with 6 2/3 scoreless innings, Gibson and Wells were the only starters to record an out in the sixth inning of a game this season. Now, for three straight starts, Kremer, Bradish and Wells have carried that torch deep into outings.
It’s the turnaround Hyde expected all along. But now he’s seeing it click in unison.
“Our last three starts have been amazing,” Hyde said, with Wells just the latest — and greatest — in the stretch.
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