Wells’ strong pitching gives Orioles 4th win in 5 games
O’s explode for 6 runs in the 5th inning to knock off the Royals
BALTIMORE — Tyler Wells pitched six strong innings to earn his first victory of the season, and the Baltimore Orioles used a six-run fifth inning Monday afternoon to surge past the Kansas City Royals 6-1.
Baltimore has won four of five for the first time this season, finishing its homestand 6-4. Kansas City fell to a season-high eight games under .500.
The game was a makeup of Saturday’s postponed game to cap a rain-altered series. Friday’s game was washed out and made up as part of a doubleheader the teams split Sunday.
Wells (1-2) allowed Ryan O’Hearn’s two-out RBI single in the first but cruised through the rest of his start. He retired 16 of the last 19 batters he faced and struck out three in the longest outing of his major league career.
The 27-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019 and missed all of the ‘19 and 2020 seasons, then pitched out of the Orioles’ bullpen as a Rule 5 pick last season. He made his sixth start Monday and threw 54 strikes among his career-high 75 pitches.
“Knowing they don’t strike out a lot, it’s really just kind of making sure I’m mixing up my pitches well, not trying to strike guys out, trying to get quick outs,” Wells said. “We have a whole infield and outfield for that.”
Kansas City has dropped seven of its past nine games, scoring just 22 runs in that span. The Royals were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position Monday.
“We have to figure out how to put crooked numbers together by just stacking hits on top of each other,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said. “They’re just hard to come by right now.”
The Orioles had four hits in their fifth-inning rally against Royals starter Carlos Hernández (0-2).
A walk, Anthony Bemboom’s double and Jorge Mateo’s RBI single tied it with one out. Bemboom came around when catcher MJ Melendez’s errant throw on Mateo’s steal of second sailed into center field.
Hernández was on the verge of escaping further damage when he struck out Cedric Mullins. But Trey Mancini singled in Mateo, and Hernández issued a walk and hit a batter before his wild pitch scored Mancini. Ryan Mountcastle then lined a single to score two more runs.
“That inning was a keep-theline-moving type of attitude,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Orioles 4, Royals 2 (Sunday’s Game 2):
Bruce Zimmermann threw six effective innings as
Baltimore earned a doubleheader split Sunday. The Royals won the opener 6-4.
In the second game, Zimmermann (2-1) allowed two runs and five hits, with five strikeouts and no walks.
“The No. 1 goal for all of the starters is to have a quality start, try to go six innings, and try to take the pressure off the bullpen every single night,” Zimmermann said. “I’m feeling really good about being able to go six innings.”
The Orioles scored three runs in the first off former Virginia Cavaliers left-hander Daniel Lynch (2-2), who grew up in Hampton. They came home on a passed ball, an RBI single by Mountcastle and a sacrifice fly by Ramón Urías.
The Royals pulled to within 3-1 when Hunter Dozier hit a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Whit Merrifield.
Tyler Nevin added an RBI single in the fourth that boosted the Orioles’ lead to 4-1. Dozier cut the margin to 4-2 with a run-scoring single in the sixth.
Keegan Akin pitched two scoreless innings for the Orioles, and Dillon Tate closed out the ninth to pick up his first save and fourth of his career.