NEW YORK - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde worked the room Sunday morning, gathering his players for a pregame talk about the season’s first half and what he expected from them in the second, pointing and calling out the names of his four All-Stars, and giving out enthusiastic hugs.
The bearer of bad news in many instances – spring training cuts, minor league demotions – cherished the opportunity to spread some joy.
“Those types of moments are some of the best parts of this job, and it’s super special,” he said yesterday. “You’re surrounded with guys who have worked their whole lives to get to this point, and to have individual accolades that are incredible, and just to be able to talk to them about that, it’s just a great feeling.
“They’re so excited for this opportunity. The country’s going to be watching. They’re going to be on the red carpet. They’re going to be doing a lot of cool stuff, so I’m just excited for them.”
Hyde feels bad for one.
Tyler Wells wasn’t chosen despite leading the majors in WHIP at 0.90. His ERA is 3.19 after allowing two earned runs or fewer in seven starts in a row.
“When you do something like that, you don’t want to feel like you leave out anybody either,” Hyde said of his roll call.
“Maybe he’s an alternate. We’ll see. There are things that happen between now and the game. Maybe he still has a chance to go.”
Wells entered last night’s game with a .185 average against, and it crawled to .188 after the Yankees went 5-for-20 against him.
Dave McNally holds the club record for lowest opponents’ average with a minimum 80 innings at .176 in 1968, according to STATS. Jim Palmer is next at .178 in 1969.
Jim Wilson is fourth behind Wells at .192 in 1955, and Bob Turley is fifth at .195 in 1954.
“He’s been lights out, he’s been really good,” said first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. “He’s got a really good fastball, and I know from experience facing him. Gets a lot of swings and misses, and guys pop out. He’s been solid all year, pretty much every outing.
“A lot of confidence in him when he’s pitching.”
* The All-Star festivities give a much broader audience a chance to witness what the Orioles have built, and that includes the Futures Game with No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad, who’s climbed to 38th in MLB Pipeline’s rankings.
“Absolutely,” Hyde said. “I’m excited for Jackson and Heston, also. They deserve to go and be part of the Futures Game, and to show everybody how talented those two guys are.”
* The Orioles didn’t commit an error again last night, but they lost a late lead.
That’s unusual.
The Orioles were 40-17 (.702) when error-free, the third-best record in the majors behind the Braves (.720) and Rays (.717), according to STATS.
Their 57 games without an error before last night were tied for fourth-most in the majors. The Yankees haven’t committed an error in 45, with was 26th.
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