Not quite enough
Wells resilient, but O’s drop series finale as offense stalls
After scoring 24 runs over their first two games of the 2024 season, the Orioles mustered just one in their series finale Sunday as they fell, 4-1, to the Los Angeles Angels.
Baltimore stranded eight base runners and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position in what was a stark contrast to the offensive display of the club’s first two games. Angels manager Ron Washington held a team meeting Saturday night after the Orioles’ 13-4 win, a game in which Baltimore scored nine runs in the sixth inning before recording an out.
The Angels responded by holding the Orioles (2-1) to three hits Sunday. Baltimore scored its lone run of the game on a basesloaded walk by shortstop Gunnar Henderson in the second inning. That was all the run support the Orioles would provide starter Tyler Wells, who was tabbed with the loss after overcoming a shaky first couple innings to retire the final 14 batters he faced.
Making his first start of the season, Wells allowed four runs in two innings to open the game, including a two-run home run by left fielder Taylor Ward in the first. The Angels (1-2) recorded three singles the following frame to drive in another run and picked up an unearned run when catcher James McCann tried to pick off Los Angeles catcher Logan O’Hoppe at third base, only for the throw to hit
O’Hoppe and sail into the outfield.
“He was down the line quite a bit,” McCann said of O’Hoppe. “We got a contact guy at the plate, typically two outs isn’t a great time to try and back pick at third but we’re trying to limit damage and figure it’s a free out we can take and I threw it into his back instead of inside the line and, if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t not call it. I’d just throw it on the inside part of the bag.”
From there, Wells became unhittable. He adjusted his game plan with McCann and finished the day with seven strikeouts and no walks over six innings, striking out the side in his final inning. Wells set out to earn a spot back
in the Orioles’ rotation this season and keep it, and his effort Sunday was a positive first step in that direction.
“I was like, ‘All right, I need to figure this out real quick and I need to be able to go out there and give my team a chance to win,’ and fortunately, after that second inning, everything was definitely working for me a lot better,” Wells said. “It was a mental adjustment. It was a physical adjustment. It was just making sure I stayed within myself.”
Yet the Orioles’ bats had few answers for Angels starter Reid Detmers, who scattered two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts across five innings, or Los Angeles’ bullpen. The Orioles had several opportunities to get the big hit and climb back into the game, including two with designated hitter Adley Rutschman at the plate.
Rutschman came to the plate with the bases still loaded after Henderson’s RBI walk in the second but grounded out to end the threat. The All-Star catcher also had the chance to do some damage with runners on the corners and two outs in the seventh against Angels reliever José Soriano, but Rutschman flew out to left field for the final out of that frame as well.
“I’ve seen him a couple times,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of the left-handed Detmers, who went 4-10 with a 4.48 ERA last season. “It’s a great arm. It’s a mid-90s fastball, a curveball he can throw for strikes and a hard slider. He’s tough on righties and lefties. I thought he threw the ball outstanding today, and Soriano, that was pretty electric, 100 mph sinkers. So, tough day offensively.”
Soriano replaced Detmers in the sixth and delivered three scoreless innings with one hit allowed before giving the ball to Carlos Estévez, who notched the save in the ninth. Orioles relievers Dillon Tate, Jacob Webb and Yennier Cano each recorded scoreless one-inning appearances.
With the loss, the Orioles suffered their first defeat of 2024 to settle for a 2-1 series win. The defending American League East champions turn their attention to the Kansas City Royals (1-2), who will arrive in Baltimore on Monday to begin a threegame series.