Tyler Wells is coming to grips with the idea that his first season as a starting pitcher is over, that he can’t offer more support for a final playoff push beyond encouraging teammates.

It isn’t easy.

The Orioles placed Wells on the 15-day injured list last week with right shoulder inflammation. He’s eligible to return on Oct. 5 for the final game of the season, but he won’t pitch again until spring training.

“It was a little sore after my last start, and then throwing in the bullpen it was still sore, so that’s when I mentioned it to the pitching coaches and all them,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s extremely disappointing. Honestly, I’m kind of heartbroken about it, given the fact that we’re chasing a wild card spot and I want to be able to contribute and continue to help the team. But obviously it just wasn’t in the books this year.”

Ramón Urías was scratched from tonight’s Orioles lineup with spasms between his neck and right shoulder. Terrin Vavra starts at second base and bats eighth, with left fielder Austin Hays moving up to seventh.

“He’s day-to-day,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

Here’s the new lineup:

Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman C
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Anthony Santander RF
Gunnar Henderson 3B
Jesús Aguilar DH
Austin Hays LF
Terrin Vavra 2B
Jorge Mateo SS

Tyler Wells is eligible to return from the 15-day injured list on Oct. 5, the final day of the regular season, but he’s shut down with inflammation in his right shoulder.

Gunnar Henderson stays at third base tonight as the Orioles try to win their third game in a row.

Manager Brandon Hyde is starting Ramón Urías at second base and using Jesús Aguilar as his designated hitter, with Kyle Stowers and Terrin Vavra on the bench – moves motivated by Astros right-hander José Urquidy being a reverse splits guy.

Austin Hays is in left field after entering last night’s game as a defensive replacement.

Anthony Santander is in right field and batting cleanup.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman C
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Anthony Santander RF
Gunnar Henderson 3B
Jesús Aguilar DH
Ramón Urías 2B
Austin Hays LF
Jorge Mateo SS

TORONTO – After 26 innings of mostly frustration on offense this weekend in Toronto, the 27^th inning proved quite fruitful for the Orioles today.

Against right-handed All-Star closer Jordan Romano, one of the saves leaders in MLB with 34, the Orioles scored three runs in the ninth on Adley Rutschman’s huge two-run single and an RBI single by Jesús Aguilar.

The Orioles, who never led today until the ninth, beat Toronto 5-4 to salvage the final game of this series.

Winning for just the fifth time in 13 games, the Orioles come home at 76-69, and this win sparked a little life into their flickering playoff hopes.

Romano had recorded 14 consecutive scoreless appearances over 15 innings and had allowed just one earned run this season at home in 28 games. His home ERA of 0.31 was the best among all qualified MLB relievers. 

TORONTO – The Orioles have just 18 games remaining, and at this point, injured first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is not a candidate for an injured list stay. But he is also not in today’s starting lineup for the series finale in Toronto.

“He’s pretty sore today,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s trending in the right way. Spent a lot of time in the training room this morning. It’s just the tricep, it’s right above the elbow, is pretty sore.”

Mountcastle was hit by a pitch, a 94 mph fastball, from right-hander José Berríos in the second inning on Saturday afternoon. He stayed in the game and ran the bases, but when the O’s took the field for the last of the second, he had been replaced at first base by Jesús Aguilar. And Aguilar is playing first base today.

The Orioles have had an MLB-low 12 players on the injured list this season and Hyde gave some props today to his medical, training and strength coach staffs for that.

“We’ve done a really good job with workload. And the credit goes to (head athletic trainer) Brian Ebel and his staff and the two strength guys. And how we’re monitoring playing time and the communication that goes on between all of us and workload and how these guys are playing. Don’t jinx it, we’ve got two and a half more weeks to go. But we’ve been able to keep guys healthy into the middle of September, now getting into the deeper part of September. Only had a handful of major injuries. Look at others teams’ injury lists and they are a lot longer than ours. Lot of credit goes to the guys in the training room," Hyde said. 

The transaction seemed minor compared to the start of a critical series in Toronto. Alexander Wells hadn’t pitched for the Orioles since April 26 after straining the UCL in his left elbow. But his removal from the 60-day injured list was pending and he didn’t seem likely to get back on the 40-man roster.

The Orioles quietly put him on outright waivers – these things aren’t trumpeted – and he was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk on Friday after clearing.

Wells had returned to Norfolk on Aug. 19 after making rehab starts in the Florida Complex League and with Double-A Bowie. He didn’t pitch for three weeks before his Sept. 9 start with the Tides, and he worked 2 2/3 innings in relief on Tuesday.

Pitchers John Means and Chris Ellis remain on the 60-day injured list after undergoing their respective surgeries - Means on his left elbow, Ellis on his right shoulder. No one on the club is assigned to the 10-day or 15-day lists.

It seems so strange to say that the Orioles avoided injuries in 2022, considering how Means made two starts and underwent ligament-reconstructive surgery. The staff ace didn’t make it to May. He didn’t make it into the third week of April.

The writing seemed to appear on the wall early today. Not the one in left field that robs home runs. The proverbial wall with clues to the game’s outcome.

Gunnar Henderson registered the first two outs by charging a bunt and throwing across his body, and diving to his left to corral a ground ball. Two batters, two more reasons to believe that Henderson is going to be special.

That part was accurate.

The Orioles immediately staged a rally in the bottom of the first inning but failed to score. And they failed to take a lead today or complete the series sweep against a team with the worst record in the American League.

Don’t always trust the wall.

A nine-inning baseball game last night felt like the calmest moment that the Orioles experienced, even in the heat of a pennant race.

Roster moves were distributed to the media as if shot out of a T-shirt gun. The spring training schedule was released, minus report dates and times.

The pace figures to slow today, with just the corresponding 40-man roster move to accommodate first baseman Jesús Aguilar.

Active rosters grow from 26 to 28 players, and we already know that the Orioles are using those spots on Aguilar and left-hander DL Hall.

Rewinding to yesterday’s activity, the biggest surprise might have been the selection of Gunnar Henderson’s contract rather than his placement on the taxi squad, which was the plan Tuesday night.

CLEVELAND – The Hall of Fame pitcher leaned over the dugout railing this afternoon to shake hands with the 21-year-old infielder preparing to make his major league debut.

A link to the Orioles’ glorious past meeting baseball’s No. 1 prospect and a huge cog in the rebuild that is designed to move them back into contention.

Jim Palmer headed up to the MASN broadcast booth. Gunnar Henderson took batting practice, started at third base and dived into the next phase of his professional life.

Of course, he landed on his feet, and used them to circle the bases on his first major league hit.

Henderson launched a 429-foot home run to right-center field off Tristen McKenzie leading off the top of the fourth inning, deepening a lead that evolved into a 4-0 victory over the Guardians at Progressive Field.

HOUSTON – Behind a pitching staff that seems to be finding a higher gear in recent days, the Orioles have pulled off, on back-to-back days, two of their most impressive wins during a year filled with such games.

The latest surprising result was their 2-0 shutout of Houston Friday night in front of 31,035 at Minute Maid Park. The Astros were held to four singles. The same Astros that began the night with the best record in the American League at 81-45 and with a seven-game home win streak. The same team that is 42-18 at home this year and 27-8 in their last 35 at home.

The Orioles (66-59) moved seven games over the .500 mark for the first time since May 22, 2017. 

O’s starting pitchers have their first back-to-back outings of seven innings or more all year, and right-hander Kyle Bradish threw an O’s season-high eight innings, allowing two hits on 96 pitches. He did that against one of the best offenses in baseball, and when the coaches checked on him when he was at 85 pitches after seven innings, he told them he wanted to keep going.

“They asked how I felt and I was like, ‘I’m just getting started,'" Bradish said. "Felt really good, velo was still there. Means a lot showcasing my ability against the best team."

HOUSTON – For an Orioles team searching many nights for offense recently, one swing can make a big difference. It did on Thursday night and Kyle Stowers was the hitter then. It did Friday night in the series opener at Houston and Ramón Urías had the huge swing.

The Orioles third baseman broke up a 0-0 tie and ended a night of mostly frustration on offense for his squad when he blasted a two-run homer to left. The sixth-inning blast helped lead the Orioles to 2-0 win over Houston behind a gem from right-hander Kyle Bradish.

Making his 16^th big league start, Bradish had one spectacular night on the mound for the Orioles.

The rookie had a 4.21 ERA in five starts since coming off the injured list. His strong outing tonight came against the team that ranks third in the league in runs, second in homers, third in slugging and OPS and with the second fewest strikeouts at bat.

Bradish spun eight scoreless innings at the Astros, allowing just two hits: a single in the fourth by Kyle Tucker and another in the seventh by Alex Bregman.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – It was certainly not another breakout game for the Orioles offense like when they scored 15 on Friday, but all wins count the same. And the Orioles got an important one tonight in the fifth annual Little League Classic.

After scoring twice in the first, their offense was dormant until the eighth tonight. Boston pitching then opened the door for a rally, and shortstop Jorge Mateo kicked it in as the Orioles beat the Red Sox 5-3.

The O's came to bat in the eighth tied 2-2 and Matt Barnes walked Ramón Urías with one out. Righty John Schreiber came on and he hit Austin Hays and walked Rougned Odor to hand the O's a bases-loaded rally.

Mateo then smoked a 2-1 sinker down the left-field line for a three-run double. The ball had 101 mph exit velocity and was a huge hit for Mateo, who was batting .287 his last 42 games. 

Hoping to ride out a 2-1 win on the strength of first-inning runs, the O's were tied up 2-2 on a pinch-hit homer by Boston in the top of the eighth.

Unlike airline points, runs don’t carry over.

If they did, the Orioles could’ve used a few Saturday. After exploding for 15 runs in a series opening win Friday, the O’s bats went quiet in a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox in front of 34,939 on Saturday.

As has too often been the case recently, the offense waited too long to get going, failing to score off of Michael Wacha in the starter’s 5 ⅔ innings of work for Boston. A seventh-inning rally netted the Orioles just two runs, not enough to overcome what was then a 3-0 deficit.

"We had a tough time getting a rally going against (Wacha)," said manager Brandon Hyde after the game. "Good to see us make a run late like usual but just came up a run short today."

Baserunners were hard to come by for the Orioles, who collected just one walk and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

If there were any reasons for concern about the Orioles offense - and surely there were throughout Birdland after Thursday's loss - they were washed away for at least one night amid an avalanche of offense.

The O's kept scoring and kept hitting home runs in a 15-10 win over Boston Friday night in front of 33,136 at Oriole Park. The O's set a season high for runs and missed a season high for hits by one, producing 18. 

They tied a season high with five homers as Jorge Mateo, Anthony Santander, Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías all connected. The last three hit by Rutschman, Mountcastle and Urías went 422, 428 and 432 feet, respectively. 

Boston pulled within 10-9 during an ugly-for-the-Orioles five-run top of the fifth. But the O's washed away that bad taste by scoring five runs in their home half.

They moved to within 1.5 games of the third American League wild card spot and won for the 16th time in their last 21 home games.

The Orioles return home today after going 3-4 on their three-city road trip.

Yesterday’s 6-1 loss in Toronto left the Orioles 1 ½ games back for the third wild card spot. The Twins moved past them and are one game behind.

Today’s game is a makeup from a June 8 rainout. The Orioles won the previous night 9-3.

Terrin Vavra is in right field today, with Anthony Santander used again as the designated hitter.

Ramón Urías is batting fifth and playing third base. Adley Rutschman is behind the plate.

Two straight losses to the Rays and a pending trip to Toronto were supposed to finally break the Orioles. The skeptics keep circling the dates for the club’s demise. Waiting for players to start turning into pumpkins.

Well, here they are, a half-game behind the Blue Jays for the last wild card spot and having a chance at a sweep.

The Orioles have won five consecutive games against the Jays in the same season for the first time since 1994. They won a road series against them for the first time since July 2019.

They totaled five wins over the Jays in 2021, one fewer than this year.

Overall, the Orioles have won 10 of the last 14 games, 12 of 18 and 26 of 37. They’re 25-27 against division opponents after going 20-56 last season.

TORONTO - Alek Manoah was feeling himself.

The imposing righty skipped off the mound, his 6-foot-6, 285-pound frame floating over the infield grass. He had just picked up his seventh strikeout by getting Ramón Urías swinging on a fastball up and in, capping off his fourth consecutive shutout inning to open the game.

Things were going well.

By the end of his evening, Manoah was plodding slowly toward the third base dugout, having surrendered a two-run lead, while still responsible for the two runners on base in a brutal sixth inning.

Things had gone poorly.

The road trip that began in Boston for a one-night appearance and then moved to Florida headed north on Sunday, and the Orioles have arrived in Toronto for their latest series at Rogers Centre. The O’s and Blue Jays split four games in mid-June there when the Orioles were nine games under .500 and six games out of the third American League wild card spot.

Tonight they begin play (59-55) four games over .500 and 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the third AL wild card spot. They led that spot by a ½ game after Friday’s 10-3 win against the Rays, but scored just three runs in losing the last two days there.

The Orioles are 2.5 games back of Toronto for the first wild card spot and two games back of Seattle for the second spot. In sitting behind Tampa Bay for a playoff spot, the Orioles are also just ½ game ahead of Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox. So as of now, just three games separate six teams from Toronto through the Twins and White Sox for three playoff spots.

For the season the Orioles average 4.24 runs per game, and the AL average is 4.21. But over the last 12 games, the Orioles have gone 8-4 and have scored six runs or more in seven of those games, going 7-0. However, in the four losses they scored one, three, two and one run, respectively.

For the season they rank 10^th in AL team batting at .238 and 11^th in OBP at .306. They are seventh with a .392 slugging mark, and their .698 OPS ranks ninth and is behind the league average of .700.

The Orioles knew the statistics and their own history with Yusei Kikuchi.

He walks a lot of batters. He can create rallies on his own. Be patient, be smart, and maybe it becomes a bullpen game for the Blue Jays.

Adley Rutschman drew a seven-pitch walk tonight with one out in the first inning and Anthony Santander earned a free pass on six. Ryan Mountcastle grounded into a force, but Ramón Urías launched a 96 mph fastball over the right-center field fence.

One big swing drew the loudest ovation, but the two walks before it set up the moment.

The Orioles did the heavy lifting in the third, again bringing the crowd to its feet, when Santander and Mountcastle went back-to-back, and Austin Hays homered off reliever Trent Thornton in the sixth in a 7-4 victory that again bumped the club five games above .500 at 57-52.

The enormous improvements in the bullpen, with manager Brandon Hyde finally able to trust the unit in any situation, ranks No. 1 on the list of reasons why the Orioles are so much better in 2022. However, the tightened defense also has earned props.

The Orioles began last night’s game in Cincinnati ranked fourth in the majors with 45 defensive runs saved per Sports Info Solutions.

How does that compare to the recent past?

Hold onto your bucket hats.

They were 24th with -30 DRS in 2021, tied for 16th with one DRS in the shortened 2020 season, were 28^th with -53 DRS in 2019, and were 28^th with -42 DRS in 2018.