For Mike Wright Jr. as his velocity got better so did his results

Ask Orioles righthander Mike Wright Jr. why he was throwing 88 to 91 mph fastballs in April and now is throwing 95 and last night touched 97 and he's not sure of the answer.

"Nope. Not at all. But this is the best my arm has felt in a very long time," he said this afternoon. "I just hope that continues and this velo stays. Yesterday I threw all four pitches just like I did as a starter and they were all good. Every day is a different day and some days one pitch might feel better than others. It's a feel thing."

Wright has now put together a run of six consecutive scoreless outings. Over nine innings he has allowed eight hits with six walks and eight strikeouts, and his ERA has decreased from 9.15 to 6.37.

Wright pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning last night against the Yankees when he got Brett Gardner to fly out, struck out Aaron Judge looking at a 97 mph fastball and got Greg Bird to ground out. He retired the top of the Yankees order on 12 pitches with a four-seamer that averaged 95.1 mph and a two-seam fastball averaging 96.4 mph.

"I feel the same as I did earlier in the year," Wright said. "I'm just actually executing a few pitches and getting some good results. When you are working hard and doing all the right things and you are getting bad results, all you want to do is change this and change that. It is real easy to press the panic button and do different things. But I've had success before and I felt like it would finally come around."

One theory that Wright said makes sense is that his shoulder is finally sound and it took a while to build that back up. He spent time on the DL last year with shoulder bursitis which limited him to 25 innings in Baltimore and 83 as a starter for Triple-A Norfolk. Maybe it just took this long for his shoulder to completely recover.

"That is the only thing I can think of," he added. "Even in the past when my arm has been hurt, the velo has been there when I've wanted. In April I was reaching back and hitting 88. That has never been a part of my game. Not having the velocity. Hopefully it was just a period of dead arm and now it's gone."

Wright admits he has spent plenty of time this year worrying about trying to keep his roster spot. Nothing is guaranteed now and he knows that. But at least now he is seeing results - both on the radar gun and in the box score.

"Yeah, when you are out of options and your velocity is down and your results are terrible, there is only one thing on your mind," he said. "And that is taking in what might be the last days in your clubhouse. It is not something that is comfortable or fun."

But now, at least he can see a light at the end of tunnel whether that is with the Orioles or even elsewhere.

"Yeah, absolutely, Wright said. "I hope we start winning more and some of these innings will really be important. Right now just taking every day as it comes."