Wright turns in another scoreless outing (O's down 11-4)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Dissecting the first two spring outings begins with the basics for Mike Wright.

Four innings and no runs allowed.

"I like giving up no runs," Wright said this afternoon after shutting out the Rays over two innings. "That's fun."

Wright allowed two hits, walked a batter and struck out one. He's surrendered five hits this spring, his first appearance coming Saturday in relief of starter Yefry Ramirez.

"A little too many hits and obviously the walk today," he said. "We're trying to limit that as much as possible because the less people that are on base, the less chance you have of giving up runs. So definitely trying to limit that."

Wright's strikeout, of Willy Adames in the first, came on his slider. Kean Wong walked with one out in the second to put runners on the corners, but the Orioles executed a 1-6-3 double play.

"Executing some pitches pretty well," he said. "The walk today was probably my least efficient batter, but it's something to work on."

The Orioles want Wright to be aggressive in the strike zone, to attack hitters, which he notes is usually in a pitcher's set of instructions.

"I've got to tell you, I don't know if there are any pitching coaches who aren't driving that home, but yeah, obviously you want to throw strikes, you want to get people out in a hurry and obviously throw quality strikes, not a bunch of quality balls," he said. "If nobody's swinging, then that's not going to be effective. Just throwing quality pitches in general."

Wright, 29, has gone through a bunch of pitching coaches during his tenure with the Orioles, his major league debut coming in 2015. He's gotten comfortable with Doug Brocail.

"He's a great pitching coach. I love working with him," Wright said.

"Honestly, I love them. They're all working together, they're all on the same page. They're not afraid to learn new things with us, because obviously they've never seen a lot of us and they're learning our bodies, how they work, the pitches we have. They're working with that. It's just a great give-and-take relationship, and I can't say enough about Doug. He just loves the game and loves to compete, so that's definitely the biggest thing."

How Wright is used in 2019 remains a mystery. If he makes the club.

The stated preference is to start, but the main objective is to stay in the majors.

"I've done both in the big leagues, and last year I was in the bullpen for pretty much the full season and I learned a lot in the bullpen," he said. "I definitely like starting. They approached me and asked me if that's what I wanted to do and I said, 'Yes.'

"That's not necessarily what I'm going to do. I do have to win that spot. There's a lot of guys competing and a lot of young guys that have a lot of promise. In a rebuild I understand they get first dibs, so I'm just in a position where I'm trying to get outs."

Meanwhile, Yusniel Díaz continues to swing a hot bat this spring, making him one of the early standouts in Orioles camp.

He's also bought into the idea that aggressive baserunning is needed on the club, preached almost daily by manager Brandon Hyde, but there are risks.

Dïaz ran into an out at third base today in the bottom of the first inning that denied Rio Ruiz an RBI single.

The organization's No. 1 prospect singled with two outs and raced to third base on Ruiz's bloop single into center field, but he was tagged just before Jonathan Villar crossed the plate.

Villar bunted into a force at second base after Austin Hays reached on an infield hit. Chris Davis struck out - that's one swinging and two looking in his first three at-bats this spring - and Díaz singled to make him 4-for-8 with a home run.

Davis and Díaz grounded out in the third after the Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the previous inning.

Alcides Escobar walked, Joey Rickard doubled to left field with one out and Emilio Pagan uncorked a wild pitch. Stevie Wilkerson followed with a sacrifice fly, smoking a ball to right field.

Josh Rogers tossed two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and walking a batter.

Chris Lee, his debut pushed back due to illness, allowed a run in the fifth on Brandon Lowe's RBI double to reduce the lead to 2-1.

Update: Davis hit a two-run homer off Austin Pruitt in the fifth to give the Orioles a 4-1 lead. The ball traveled a long way to center field.

Update II: The Rays scored 10 runs in the eighth to lead 11-4. John Means and Jay Flaa each retired only one batter and were charged with three and five runs, respectively. Taylor Grove was tagged with the other two.

Final update: Not that it mattered, but the Orioles got a run back in the bottom of the eighth. Ryan Mountcastle's double preceded Anthony Santander's RBI single. Then the rains came, and the Orioles and Rays called it a game. Final score: Rays 11, O's 5.