BALTIMORE — A home run for the visiting Boston Red Sox on the first pitch of the game felt a harbinger of one last long night for the Orioles in this home finale at Camden Yards.
Instead, an uplifting 6-2 win Thursday night before an announced 13,012 provided a glimpse of a future the Orioles (52-101) hope arrives sooner than later. At every turn, facing a playoff aspirant who desperately needed to win this series, it was the Orioles’ promising rookies who rose to the moment and prevented it.
Australian left-hander Alexander Wells was chief among them. He’s a soft-tosser who needs to pitch in the strike zone and challenge hitters with command and pitch-mix, and at times he’s abandoned that and torpedoed his outings at the first sign of trouble.
That first sign came on the first pitch Thursday, when Kiké Hernández hit a leadoff home run to give Boston an early lead. Wells put a pair on base after that, but got out of the inning and the next five allowing no runs, with just two Boston base runners reaching base after that first inning.
His six innings were a career high, and he allowed one run on three hits, the best of his career.
Less surprising was the towering blast by Ryan Mountcastle that swung the game. Baseball’s rookie home run leader came up with two runners on and two outs in the third inning, after a comically poor third-strike call on Cedric Mullins drew protests from the Orioles’ star center fielder.
On the next pitch, Mountcastle hit his team-high 33rd home run to make that moot and give his club a 3-1 lead.
Wells kept the lead intact into the sixth, and another rookie built on it. Trey Mancini and Kelvin Gutiérrez each singled and were in scoring position after a wild pitch by reliever Garrett Richards when Tyler Nevin, fresh up from Triple-A Norfolk, singled to score them both for his first major league RBIs. Rookie outfielder Ryan McKenna pinch-ran for Nevin at third and scored on another wild pitch.
Boston, which is now tied with the Seattle Mariners for the second AL wild-card spot, clawed back with one run in the seventh against right-hander Joey Krehbiel, but it was hardly enough. The Orioles held the Red Sox to five hits, with Dillon Tate and Cole Sulser locking down the win.
Lefties leave a good taste
For a second straight series against Boston, the Orioles used three straight rookie left-handers as starters, this time using Bruce Zimmermann, Zac Lowther, and Wells. It went much better than earlier this month in Boston, when Akin pitched in Zimmermann’s spot and all three lost.
The three combined around to allow three earned runs in 15 innings this week.
