Farm news: Wells, Breazeale honored, plus other notes

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The honors continued today for Single-A Delmarva pitcher Alex Wells. He was named the Player of the Month in the South Atlantic League.

Wells went 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00, throwing 31 scoreless innings in five July starts. The 20-year-old lefty from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, allowed just 13 hits with no walks and 26 strikeouts. Both position players and pitchers are considered for this award. A few days ago, the Orioles announced that Wells was named their minor league Pitcher of the Month for July.

Through 21 starts, the SAL All-Star is 9-5 with a 2.50 ERA, good for second in the league. He owns the lowest WHIP (0.95) and walks-per-nine-innings ratio (0.76) in the league. The Shorebirds have seven shutouts and Wells was the starter for four.

Before a loss at West Virginia on Aug. 4, Wells had strung together seven straight quality starts, giving him 15 on the season. He put together a stretch of 36 consecutive scoreless innings from June 30 through July 30 and hasn't walked anybody in 47 innings since June 25.

The Orioles signed Wells as an international free agent out of Australia in 2015. His signing scouts were Brett Ward and Mike Snyder.

Meanwhile, short-season Single-A Aberdeen catcher/designated hitter Ben Breazeale was named Player of the Month in the New York-Penn League. He was the O's minor league Player of the Month for July.

Drafted this year in the seventh round out of Wake Forest, Breazeale is batting .372 with three homers and 27 RBIs in 39 games. In 27 games in July, he hit .390/.462/.550 with 10 doubles, two homers and 23 RBIs. Breazeale is second in the league in batting average and ranks first in RBIs and on-base percentage at .473.

With about a month to go in the minor league regular season, the Double-A Bowie Baysox continues in first place in its division in the Eastern League at 59-54, but just by a half-game over Altoona. In the New York-Penn League, Aberdeen at 27-19 is tied for first place and tied for the second-best record in the league.

Triple-A Norfolk got a solid pitching performance Sunday in a 1-0 loss to Durham. Mike Wright went the first 4 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and no runs, and Chris Lee went 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and one run.

Norfolk has won seven of its last 10 games and 12 of its last 17. The Tides are also 15-9 since the All-Star break, tied with Durham for the second-best mark in the International League over that span. Tides pitchers have an ERA of 3.10 the last 17 games.

Bowie outfielder Austin Hays went 2-for-4 with a double Sunday and is batting .429 (12-for-28) during a seven-game hitting streak. During the run, Hays has five doubles, a triple, homer and seven RBIs and has raised his average to .340. Hays has 26 homers, which leads all O's farmhands and ranks tied for sixth in all of minor league baseball.

On his rehab assignment, Ryan Flaherty went 4-for-4 with four singles yesterday and is batting .375 (9-for-24) in seven Baysox games.

Lefty pitcher Zac Lowther allowed one run over three innings Sunday in his latest outing for Aberdeen. The No. 74 overall draft pick out of Xavier this year is off to a very good start to his pro career. In seven games, he is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.95. Over 28 1/3 innings, he has walked four with 35 strikeouts and has allowed a .200 batting average.

Delmarva lost to West Virginia yesterday and it was the Shorebirds' ninth consecutive loss. They were in first place in the second-half race, but have fallen 3 ½ games out at 20-22.

Lost a good one: Finally, condolences are pouring in all over the major leagues today after the passing of former Oriole Don Baylor. He died of cancer. Baylor was 68.

"Don passed from this earth with the same fierce dignity with which he played the game and lived his life," his wife, Rebecca, said in a statement.

The man they called "Groove" was drafted by the Orioles in the second round in 1967, and came up through the O's farm with a couple of great years at Triple-A Rochester. He played with the Orioles in 1970-75 and won the American League MVP in 1979 for the Angels organization that the Orioles play tonight.

We mourn the loss of former Oriole Don Baylor. Our thoughts are with his family. pic.twitter.com/ewkdpEDAmA

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 7, 2017

Saddened to hear Don "Groove" Baylor died. One of the nicest men I've known unless you were a middle infielder on a DP #greatloss @Orioles

-- Jim Palmer (@Jim22Palmer) August 7, 2017

Sorry to hear of the passing of former team mate and fierce competitor, Don Baylor. He played as hard as anyone in the game. RIP my friend.

-- Ross Grimsley (@rgrimsley2) August 7, 2017