Rookie pitchers showing promise

Hyde giving them a chance to make their case for 2022 spots

Cedric Mullins achieving the Orioles’ first 30-30 season was understandably the highlight Friday night, but it shouldn’t be lost that left-hander Alexander Wells provided a third straight solid start from a Baltimore rookie.

Wells followed Keegan Akin and Zac Lowther with five innings of three-run ball against the Texas Rangers, recovering from a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning to allow one run over his final four frames. In what turned out to be his final start of the year before he was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday with a left adductor strain, Akin took a shutout into the sixth inning Wednesday against a Philadelphia Phillies team pursuing a playoff spot. Lowther then worked five scoreless innings against Texas on Thursday.

“I attacked the strike zone, made a mistake in the first inning, which cost me a little bit, but I minimized damage later on in the game when I got into a bit of trouble,” Wells said. “So yeah, it was a good outing for me.”

Of course, those starts came against teams outside of the American League East, a division featuring four playoff contenders and an Orioles club with a pitching staff on which they’ve all feasted.

That trio of left-handers accounts for half of the six pitchers who entered this year among the Orioles’ top 20 prospects, according to Baseball America, who have pitched for them this year, with Dean Kremer, Bruce Zimmermann and Mike Baumann being the others. Those six have collectively combined for an abysmal 8.45 ERA against the AL East and a not-impressive-but-much-better 5.46 ERA against teams outside of the division.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has not been shy about these September starts against contending teams being auditions for Lowther and Wells, who have spent most of the year moving up and down between Triple A and the majors.

Akin got a similar late-season experience last year with a handful of majorleague outings that were enough to pencil him into Baltimore’s 2021 rotation. But he struggled with his command in spring training to the point that the Orioles had him begin the year at their alternate training site, and he’s spent most of this year being bludgeoned by opposing teams.

He ended the season on a high note: In three of his final six starts, including Wednesday, he allowed exactly one run, with one of the three exceptions a start in which he allowed no hits in the first six innings.

“I thought Keegan had the rocky start