All-Star or not, Wells one of O's standout stories

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tyler Wells texted teammate Cole Irvin on Friday night, sending the left-hander a GIF of a salute to acknowledge Irvin’s quality start against the Twins in Baltimore's 10-inning victory.

Texts might be coming now in Wells' direction, after the right-hander kept the O's run of strong starting pitching going Saturday by capping his own standout first half with another quality start.

Wells (7-4) allowed two runs in six innings as the Orioles won their fourth straight game Saturday with a 6-2 victory over Minnesota. It was the fourth consecutive quality start supplied by a Baltimore starter, and Wells' eighth of the season.

The O's strung together six hits and two walks to score six runs in a second-inning outburst against Twins All-Star starter Sonny Gray, and it proved more than enough support for Wells on the mound.

“It’s just like whenever the guys go out and gets base hits, same thing,” Wells said of keeping the run of quality starts going. “You just want to keep building on it, that’s just what we do as starters. … You want to keep supporting the guys at the same time to you want to keep pushing each other to be better. That’s one thing all of us have done really well.”

Wells, the 6-foot-8 right-hander who was a Twins’ 15th-round Draft pick in 2016, followed strong starts by Irvin, Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer. For Wells, it was his eighth straight start allowing two runs or fewer.

“If anybody needs an All-Star break, it’s Tyler Wells right now; just what he’s done for us this first half and how many innings he’s thrown,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s done an amazing job.”

With six innings on Saturday, Wells set a career high with 104 2/3 innings, surpassing the 103 2/3 frames he logged last season. Wells lowered his ERA to 3.18, but he’s been particularly stingy allowing baserunners.

Wells leads the league with a 0.93 WHIP. He owns an opponents' batting average of just .193, which is second in the Majors to the Angels' Shohei Ohtani at .189.

“He’s a strike-thrower with four really good pitches,” Hyde said. “He threw like this last year also, just his innings were cut and then he got hurt at the end. But this is pretty much what he did last year for us, show that he’s got starter stuff with four pitches and good command of the strike zone.”

Among qualified pitchers, Wells will be the eighth Orioles pitcher to enter the All-Star break with a WHIP under 1.00. Despite the gaudy numbers, Wells wasn’t one of the four Baltimore players selected for the All-Star game.

Relievers Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano -- both of whom also have a WHIP under 1.00 -- starting outfielder Austin Hays and catcher Adley Rutschman will represent the Orioles on Tuesday in Seattle.

“Unfortunately, it isn’t up to me,” Wells said. “I felt like I put together a really quality first half, but as someone once told me, ‘To be an All-Star, you only have to play good for the first half. To be a world champion, you got to play good for the whole year.’ That’s kind of my outlook right now.”

The one lapse for Wells this season has been home runs. While he’d allowed just 35 total earned runs entering the day, he had given up 21 homers, the third-highest total in the Majors.

But Wells kept the Twins in the park Saturday and will enter his All-Star break after continuing Baltimore’s strong run of starting pitching by extending his own impressive stretch.

“I think it’s a testament to what I’m trying to accomplish this year,” Wells said of his first half. “I’m trying to be dependable, trying to establish myself and I’m trying to make sure that each and every time I take that ball I give my team a chance to win. I think for the most part, for pretty much every start this first half with maybe the exception of one or two, I’ve accomplished that in my eyes. I hope that continues in the second half.”