Hyde on Kremer demotion, Wells and Wade on promotions

The removal again of rookie Dean Kremer from the rotation and active roster this afternoon leaves Orioles manager Brandon Hyde contemplating a replacement with no days off on the schedule until Thursday.

"The decision is pending," Hyde said on his media Zoom call.

Alexander Wells is available out of the bullpen for tonight's game against the Blue Jays, and the Australian-born left-hander could start Tuesday in Houston. The Orioles needed fresh arms in relief and Wells and Konner Wade, who had his contract selected, can provide coverage.

"We are so short with Dean's short outing last night," Hyde said, "and the way that (Adam) Plutko and (Travis) Lakins just did an amazing job of picking us up going six-plus innings, we're in need of some guys who can give us length out of the bullpen. So added a couple guys today. Wellsy's in the 'pen today and then we'll make decisions going forward."

Two resets for Kremer at Triple-A Norfolk are expected to be followed by a longer stint in the minors. According to Hyde, there won't be a quick turnaround after Kremer walked five batters and allowed six runs last night in one-third of an inning to raise his ERA to 7.25 and WHIP to 1.611 in 49 2/3 innings.

Asked whether Kremer needs an extended stay, Hyde said, "Yes. For me, yeah."

"It's extremely hard to pitch in the big leagues and it's extremely hard to be a starter in this division," he continued. "We care a lot about Dean and we think Dean's going to be a good major league starter. We felt like the right thing to do is for him to go to Triple-A for an extended period, work on being consistent with his command of all of his pitches, so when he finally does come back up here, now he's able to sustain.

"Right now, he's having a hard time going from start to start, outing to outing, being consistent with his stuff and his command. So that's why it was the right thing for us to do and for him to do is to go pitch in some little bit lower pressure situations and work on his command."

The Orioles have made similar moves with other pitching prospects, optioning left-handers Keegan Akin and Bruce Zimmermann. Zac Lowther has made three appearances and is back in Norfolk's rotation.

"It's very challenging," Hyde said. "The teams we play have very good offenses and it's not ending here. We're going from here to Houston to Anaheim to Toronto again to White Sox, so there's no breather ever here and there's no days off and nobody feels sorry for you. They're going to come out and try to get you. And we're in a tough spot. We don't have a ton of starter depth; we have young guys who are trying to survive in the big leagues and in the rotation, and they're facing offenses that are built to win postseason games, playoff games. And sometimes you take your lumps up here and you go down and try to figure it out, come back.

"It's where we are right now organizationally and it's hard to compete without getting quality starts and it affects the bullpen, it affects the next day, all of that stuff. So, doing the best we can."

Wells has gone from a spring training oblique injury and poor May with Norfolk to the majors at 24, and with no warning. The pinpoint control is a huge attraction, with Wells going four starts this month without walking a batter and averaging 1.4 walks per nine innings in the minors.

"I didn't get off to the best start this year," said Wells, who posted a 9.88 ERA and 2.20 WHIP in May. "This month was a lot better. I finally got into a groove for the month of June and I just had the confidence and the belief in myself to go out there and compete every fifth, sixth day, whenever it was, and put up good numbers. So I took confidence from each start and it grew on me.

"A bit of confidence and just working hard in bullpens in between starts. Going out there, getting my work in and working on the stuff that needs to be worked on in that bullpen. I've been working a lot on my changeup lately and it's been a good pitch for me lately."

Wells said he hung around the clubhouse last night after the game, which proved convenient when pitching coach Kennie Steenstra called and asked him to come back to the field.

"I was like, 'I'm still in the clubhouse, I'll just come down and meet you in the office,'" Wells said. "(Manager) Gary Kendall and Gary said, 'Congratulations, you're going to the big leagues, you're going to fly tomorrow morning.' So, yeah, pretty cool way to find out.

"I was a bit shocked about the call. Not really expecting it, but super happy to be here and happy to join the team. I'm over the moon excited. Once I signed with the Orioles back in 2015, my goal was to start one day for the team, whether it be on the road or at Camden Yards, so this is a dream come true and hopefully one day I get to start. It doesn't matter where I pitch. It's an unreal feeling.

"I'm happy to pitch wherever they want me or wherever they need me. It doesn't bother me."

Wade wasn't a touted international signing and hasn't appeared in prospect rankings, where Wells can be found at No. 17 on MLBPipeline.com and No. 20 at Baseball America.

For Wade, signed to a minor league deal over the winter, his road has taken him off the grid. He wasn't sure that any team would find him.

"There's a lot of times when I was wondering that," he said. "For me, it's validation for all the hard work that I put in. It's also rewarding for me to know that my wife (Laura) and my daughter (Ella) and my parents and my family that sacrificed a lot for me to pursue this dream get to experience this with me and witness this. I think that probably is more rewarding for me, just getting to see my wife's reaction last night and my parents' reaction. It was really special.

"There were a lot of times where I didn't know if this day would ever come. I've been released, I've sat in indy ball for over a year, I played in Mexico. Typically roads that are difficult to get back into affiliated and ultimately get to the major leagues. But I had some really good teammates, good friends. My wife really just encouraged me to keep pushing. I felt like I still had some good baseball left in me and I wanted to pursue a dream that I've had since I was a kid."

That dream was interrupted again when the Orioles released him in spring training 2017 four months after trading for him, the cost $500,000 in international bonus slot money.

Wade, 29, has a 3.48 ERA and 1.03 WHIP this season in eight games, including two starts, covering 31 innings. He allowed two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings in his first four appearances.

Kendall and Steenstra also delivered the news in person to Wade last night, though he had to drive back to the ballpark.

"We got finished and I got back to my apartment in Virginia Beach about 30 minutes away from the stadium in Norfolk and I got a call from Gary," Wade said. "He told me to come in, so I looked at my wife and I think we both kind of knew it was either really good or really bad, but I think we both had a good understanding that this was probably going to be the case.

"It was just speechless, both of our reactions. I called her right after to confirm what we had thought might be the case and she was speechless. A special moment."