TORONTO — Look around the Orioles starting rotation, and the holes are incredibly apparent. Left-hander John Means and right-hander Grayson Rodriguez are injured, left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was sent down to the minors and right-hander Kyle Bradish is experiencing the lumps that can follow a first-year major leaguer.
And yet right-hander Tyler Wells, perhaps the unlikeliest of the group, has become the steadying presence Baltimore so badly needs in a rotation with so little set in stone. Around this time last year, Wells was just emerging as a late-inning reliever for the Orioles, well on his way to becoming the closer.
Fast forward to Thursday, and there was Wells completing six innings for the third time in his last four starts, breezing through a Toronto Blue Jays lineup that had given fits to the other three Orioles starters who faced them this week. While Baltimore’s offense gave Wells ample breathing room in the 10-2 victory, he didn’t require it.
