When it rains (or hails), it pours
O’s bullpen falters after long delay in loss to Yankees
When the ice began to fall Saturday night at Camden Yards, the ill luck that has befallen the Orioles already this season cascaded down with it.
Manager Brandon Hyde tried to piggyback four scoreless innings from right-hander Tyler Wells with a lengthy relief outing from righthanderMikeBaumann.Instead,asthehailtriggered a 49-minute weather delay, Baumann’s outingendedaftertwobattersandninepitches, forcing Hyde’s hand for a second time this season because of an unforeseen circumstance.
Last week, left-hander Dean Kremer suffered a left oblique strain while warming up to replace Wells. Now, there was ice in April, a head-scratching development that resulted in right-hander Travis Lakins Sr. emerging to pitch once the delay ended.
By the time the top half of the fifth inning ended — more than an hour after it had begun —theYankeeshadturnedatwo-rundeficitinto a two-run lead. New York would go on to add from there, capping a game that started more than four hours earlier with a 5-2 victory to even the series.
The announced attendance of 28,179 — a numberbuoyedbythevisitingYankeessupport — thinned as Saturday approached Sunday and the Orioles (2-6) continually stranded runners. Wells had been supported earlier by a two-run homer from center fielder Cedric Mullins, his third hit with a runner in scoring position this season. His Orioles teammates, however, have combinedforfourhitsinthosesituations,creatinganoffensiveimpassethatrequiresthepitching staff to be infallible.
Between the fifth and eighth innings, Baltimore had eight base runners. None of them were driven home.
Stretching out
Conventional wisdom might have inspired the Orioles to maintain the status quo. Wells, playing his first season in the majors in 2021, excelledinabullpenrole—awaytomanagehis innings after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019 and missing 2020 because of COVID-19 cancellations.
Ratherthanleavehimuntouched,Baltimore hopes Wells can develop into a starting pitcher again, as he was in the minors. His first test last week went awry: He allowed four runs in 1 ⅔ innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
But Wells provided more length Saturday, pitching four scoreless innings even though he hadtoworkaroundbaserunnersineachframe. He struck out three, walked two and allowed three hits, and his changeup — a main piece of hisrepertoire—causedfourswingsandmisses.
It was a positive development for a pitching staff that could be without ace John Means for a significant period of the season, building on the 5 innings of one-run ball right-hander Jordan Lyles threw Friday. However, with Wells on a short leash, there’s a greater strain on a bullpen that wasn’t helped by a delay.