O's game blog: The road trip finale at Boston

The Orioles wrap up a two-city, eight-game road trip tonight at Boston, playing the fifth and final game of their series at Fenway Park. The winner of tonight’s game wins the series, which is tied at two wins each.

O’s pitching allowed five doubles and five homers Sunday as the Red Sox rolled to a 12-2 win – the Orioles' most lopsided loss of the season. Boston led 7-1 after five innings and then added five runs and four hits in the last of the eighth.

Lefty Bruce Zimmermann allowed six runs over four innings to fall to 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA. He has allowed nine homers his past two starts and 12 in the last four after giving up just one home run over his first six starts of 2022.

O’s starting pitchers began this year with an ERA of 2.97 through their first 15 games. But the rotation ERA is 6.99 and has produced just three quality starts over the past 19 games since May 11.

Right-hander Tyler Wells (1-4, 4.30 ERA) gets tonight’s start. For the year, Wells has thrown 37 2/3 innings, allowing 38 hits with six walks to 25 strikeouts. He has recorded a 1.168 WHIP with a 1.4 walk rate and 6.0 strikeout rate.

Wells’ ERA was 3.75 through his first six starts, but is 5.27 over his past three. In those games, he has allowed eight runs and 15 hits over 13 2/3 innings, allowing a .283 batting average against and .756 OPS.

Wells has allowed two earned runs or less in six of nine starts and no walks six times. He is 0-4 with a 6.50 ERA and 1.444 WHIP in five road starts. While giving up just one homer in 19 2/3 innings in the expanded Camden Yards outfield, he has allowed four homers in 18 road innings.

Wells is throwing his fastball 41 percent of the time with an average velocity of 93.6 mph. He uses his slider 33 percent of the time, his changeup 21 percent and curveball only five percent.

In a few Statcast numbers where Wells does fare well, he ranks in the top six percent of major league pitchers in walk percentage and top seven percent in fastball spin rate. He rates in the top 22 percentile in chase percentage and top 35 percent in curveball spin rates.

Lefty Rich Hill (1-2, 3.86 ERA) gets the start for Boston. The Red Sox are 4-4 in his 2022 outings, and he has recorded a 1.171 WHIP with a 2.3 walk rate and 6.2 strikeout rate. While he has thrown five innings or less in seven of his eight starts, he has pitched to an ERA of 2.77 over his last six games.

The Orioles and Red Sox face off in a rubber match contest tonight. The O’s have gone 5-2 in rubber games this season after going 7-5 in 2021. Tonight’s game is Baltimore’s last of the road trip. The Orioles return home tomorrow for an eight-game homestand, which features three games against the Seattle Mariners from May 31 to June 2, three games against the Cleveland Guardians from June 3-4, an off day on June 6 and two games against the Chicago Cubs from June 7-8.

College baseball notes: Congrats are due today for the University of Maryland baseball team, which was selected as one of 16 teams to host an NCAA Regional. The tournament field of 64 teams was announced today. The Terps are No. 1 seed in the College Park Regional that begins Friday and also features No. 2 seed Wake Forest, No. 3 Connecticut and No. 4 Long Island. Maryland plays Long Island in its first game of the double elimination event Friday night.

Baltimore’s Coppin State University Eagles made the field as the MEAC champs and will be the No. 4 seed in the Greenville Regional at East Carolina University. Congrats also to the Eagles.

Back in the day, I once broadcast baseball for two wonderful seasons at Florida State University. Today, the Seminoles tied an NCAA record, making a regional for the 44^th straight season.