Yankees make short work of Wells and defeat O's 13-1 (updated)

The home debut for Orioles rookie Alexander Wells remains on hold through five major league appearances. His acts are played on the road. Auditions that he hoped would lead to a regular gig.

Off-days Thursday and Monday can jumble the rotation again, but Wells appeared to have a shot at pitching at Camden Yards against the Rays or, more likely, the Tigers before the Orioles flew to Boston next weekend. In the meantime, tonight marked his first appearance at Yankee Stadium.

The audition hit a snag because the Yankees wouldn't stop hitting. And the Orioles optioned Wells following tonight's game.

Wells was introduced to Gleyber Torres, an Orioles nemesis who greeted him with a run-scoring double in the second inning. DJ LeMahieu doubled to the same spot in the third to score Greg Allen. Three more runners crossed the plate before Wells crossed the third base line on his way to the dugout.

Adam Plutko let an inherited runner score and served up Giancarlo Stanton's three-run shot in the fourth, and the Orioles were toast, losing to the Yankees 13-1 in the Bronx.

Luis Gil made his major league debut tonight for the Yankees as the replacement for Gerrit Cole, who tested positive for COVID-19. The organization's No. 6 prospect per MLBPipeline.com tossed six scoreless innings with four hits and the Orioles fell to 38-68 overall and 5-7 versus the Yankees.

The Orioles are 10-7 since the break.

Cedric Mullins singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and scored on Ryan Mountcastle's double, the rookie's 60th RBI of the season. He has RBIs in five straight games.

Manager Brandon Hyde didn't know until early this afternoon that the Yankees were starting Gil instead of left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr.

"I heard (Aaron Boone) say last night Nestor and wrote a lineup if it was Cortes, but I also know things can change the next day," Hyde said this afternoon.

"Right away you contact the advance team and hitting guys and we go to work. Get as much information as we can, watch as much video as we can here in a short amount of time. It's not unusual. These types of things happen."

It's also not unusual for Torres to torment the Orioles. He began the night as a career .344/.430/.734 hitter against them with 12 doubles, 16 home runs and 36 RBIs in 45 games and lined a double into right-center field with two outs in the second that scored Gary Sánchez, who singled ahead of him.

Wells threw nine pitches in the first inning and 30 in the second. He began the third by hitting Allen and LeMahieu lined a double into right-center and raced home when Mullins fielded Anthony Rizzo's single, fired the ball back to the infield and bounced it off second base for a 3-0 lead.

LeMahieu held at third before Mullins' fourth error of the season.

Aaron Judge singled to move Rizzo to third and Giancarlo Stanton followed with an RBI single, Joey Gallo struck out and Hyde made a pitching change after Judge scored on Sánchez's double.

The Orioles announced after the final out that Wells was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk and Thomas Eshelman cleared waivers and accepted his outright assignment.

"I just thought he pitched behind in the count for the majority of the night, and it's a tough lineup to pitch behind in the count," Hyde said. "First inning I thought he did a good job and then second inning gave up a run there. The second time through the order they made some adjustments against him. He looked predictable in his pitching, for me. Left some balls thigh-high and they took some good swings against him."

Torres' sacrifice fly off Plutko increased the lead to 6-0 and left Wells with a 7.64 ERA. The Australia native threw 63 pitches, 35 for strikes.

"I didn't throw enough quality strikes," Wells said. "I fell behind a lot tonight and when I did throw a strike, they were ready to hit it."

The first mistake was Wells hitting Allen, batting at the bottom of the order, with a 1-2 pitch.

Asked what he wants to prove moving forward in his season, Wells replied, "Just go out there and prove that I can compete in the AL East against these quality teams."

He'll have to wait for his next opportunity. His seat on the shuttle opened up again.

The rotation allowed one earned run or zero in seven of the last 14 games, but Wells wasn't up to the task. And one night after playing what Hyde considered their most complete game of the season, the Orioles were sloppy in the field to compound their issues.

"I thought we left the zone way too often," Hyde said. "Starting in the first inning they were kind of swinging at elevated heaters, top of the zone and above. (Gil) has got a great arm, but we knew we had to push his fastball down. Kind of got him in a rhythm. We were a little too aggressive against a pitcher with really good stuff. We didn't take our best at-bats tonight. Tonight wasn't one of our better nights."

Mullins and Anthony Santander let LeMahieu's fly ball drop between them in the fourth for a cheap double, and Stanton hit a 353-foot three-run homer to right field with two outs for a 9-0 lead.

Keegan Akin tossed three scoreless innings with only one hit, but Shaun Anderson allowed four runs in the eighth, including Judge's solo shot. Judge has eight home runs against the Orioles. Anderson has a 9.16 ERA and a precarious hold on a roster spot.

"For me, that's taking a positive away tonight with Keegan Akin," Hyde said. "Love the way he was really aggressive. I liked the secondary stuff tonight. Thought he pitched really well. He had the tempo back. He went the majority from the stretch and really had a nice tempo going. Fastball was up to 94. The off-speed stuff was good and he threw a ton of strikes. So, gave us three really good innings."

"An outing like that definitely builds some confidence," Akin said. "Definitely the best I've felt this year, so got to bottle that up and keep it and roll with it."

Richie Martin entered the game at shortstop in the sixth inning, his first major league game since Sept. 29, 2019 in Boston, and bounced out in the eighth. He's the 49th player used by the Orioles this season.

Notes: Former Orioles reliever Evan Phillips, released yesterday from Triple-A Norfolk's roster, signed a minor league deal with the Rays.

Adley Rutschman hit his 17th home run tonight for Double-A Bowie, a two-run shot off Luis Severino in the first inning. He also doubled in his next at-bat.

Zach Watson hit his third homer for the Baysox. Gray Fenter allowed two runs and three hits with six strikeouts in three innings.

Single-A Delmarva's Jean Pinto, acquired from the Angels in the José Iglesias trade, tossed six scoreless innings with two hits, no walks and six strikeouts. Cristopher Cespedes hit his 11th home run and Lamar Sparks his fourth. Darell Hernaiz had a walk-off single.

Triple-A Norfolk's Kyle Bradish allowed two runs and three hits with four walks and five strikeouts in four innings. Mason McCoy had a single, triple and two RBIs.