Wells good again in series opener, Tides pitch shutout on the farm

It was kind of a tough night for one young Orioles pitcher last night, and a better one for another as they lost 4-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays to start a weekend series.

Lefty Keegan Akin pitched with traffic on the bases most of his night, allowing five hits and three runs over four innings. The Rays forced him to throw 95 pitches, and two walks to start the game didn't help his cause. But Akin pitched out of that and minimized a jam in the third inning, allowing just one run.

But second baseman Brandon Lowe, the University of Maryland product, hit a two-run homer off him in the fourth. The blast put Tampa Bay ahead 3-2. Lowe began the night batting .063 with a .302 OPS facing lefty pitching, going 4-for-63. But when catcher Pedro Severino seemed to want an elevated fastball in that spot, Akin's pitch instead was low and in the middle of the plate, and Lowe hit it out. The 1-2 fastball went 420 feet out to right center to help beat the Orioles in the series opener.

The Rays are now 40-24 and in first place, and they are 21-5 with a run differential of plus-79 since May 13. They are 35-16 since mid-April.

But Rule 5 pick right-hander Tyler Wells had a fourth straight scoreless outing for the Orioles. In that span, he has allowed just three hits over eight innings and lowered his ERA to 3.99. He has no walks and eight strikeouts in that stretch.

Last night the Rays swung at 19 of his 27 pitches and they whiffed on eight of them, including on five of six sliders. Wells was throwing his fastball 95 and 96 mph last night and his slider averaged 89 mph, topping at 90.4. Wells scores well in strikeout percentage and chase rate, and is getting a whiff rate of 48.4 on his changeup and 31.9 on his slider.

For the season, 10 of his 17 outings have been two innings or more. He has not issued a walk in nine of the 17 outings this year. Wells struck out a career-high six batters on May 18 versus Tampa Bay, and has at least one strikeout in 15 of his games, and multiple in nine of those outings.

He has absolutely worked his way into higher-leverage outings such as last night's, and could be pushing to get a starting assignment before too long.

What is in a name?: During a pregame Zoom interview before Friday's game, after he got activated off the injured list, outfielder Austin Hays relayed that some in the O's organization have been calling Cedric Mullins "parking lot Ced," and not just because he has bashed nine homers this year.

Hays said he's been watching Mullins shine on the farm for years, and that the nickname has been around for years.

"It's what I've watched him do his whole career," Hays said. "Watched him do it at Double-A for a couple years. Had an unbelievable season at Low A that he skipped High A when he did so well the second half. He's always been able to hit for power. It's like people are surprised that he's hitting home runs. But he's always been a little bit of a thumper. That's why we call him "parking lot Ced," because he can hit some balls to the parking lot. He's always been a guy that can steal 30 bags. Fun seeing him do what I knew that he always could here in the big leagues. Showing everybody what he's always done.

"I want to say in 2017 in Double-A, there was a ball he hit at home that just went over everything. It just disappeared pull side. I don't know who said it, but that's just where it kind of started."

On a night when the Orioles were held to just three hits, one was Trey Mancini's two-run homer. Even Mullins went hitless last night. He was 0-for-4 and fanned twice as his nine-game hitting streak ended.

Shutout on the farm: Triple-A Norfolk beat Jacksonville 8-0 last night as Zac Lowther and Conner Greene teamed on a six-hitter. Lowther went the first four to lower his ERA to 5.28. Greene pitched the last five on three hits and is now 1-2 with a 6.30 ERA. Infielder Domingo Leyba, claimed on waivers from Arizona on June 4, is now 7-for-17 in four Norfolk games, with three homers and 10 RBIs. He went 3-for-5 last night with a three-run homer and RBI single. Norfolk has won 10 of 15 games to improve to 13-19.

Binghamton scored four runs in the last of the ninth Friday to stun Double-A Bowie 5-4. Robert Neustrom had a two-run single and starter Blaine Knight allowed one run and three hits over five innings. Bowie has hit its first rough patch of the year and has lost four of six games to fall to 23-9.

The Baysox began Friday with the best record in in the minors, but two Triple-A teams won to pass them by last night. Both Omaha, a Kansas City affiliate, and Nashville, a Milwaukee farm club, are now 24-9, just ahead of the Baysox.

High Single-A Aberdeen lost 5-3 at Bowling Green. Kyle Stowers hit a two-run homer and Zach Watson added a solo homer for the IronBirds, who are 20-12.

The low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds (22-9) were rained out of a doubleheader at Lynchburg. They will try to play two there today at 4:05 p.m.