BALTIMORE — Just imagine if these games mattered in the standings.

The magic is back in Baltimore, and the Orioles are hardly losing. And they can’t stop winning in walk-off fashion.

The Orioles did it again Wednesday. For the fourth time in five games, the Orioles won on a walk off. This time, it was a single from rookie Dylan Beavers in the 10th inning to give Baltimore a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Orioles didn’t have a walk-off win through their first 119 games of the season. Now they’ve done so in four of their past five games and five times in their past 15 home games.

The walk-off ways began Aug. 13 with Jackson Holliday’s double to beat the Seattle Mariners in the Orioles’ 120th game of the season. Samuel Basallo clobbered a walk-off homer in Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Emmanuel Rivera’s two-run single did the same Saturday to cap off a stunning comeback that began with Holliday’s homer with two outs in the ninth to spoil Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s no-hit bid.

Baltimore has won seven of its past eight games, including a sweep of the San Diego Padres last week and series wins over the Dodgers and now the Pirates. This is perhaps the Orioles’ best stretch of baseball in over a year, giving reminders to the 10-game winning streak in 2022 and the miraculous 2023 season.

The difference, though, is that those teams put together those performances in pursuit of a playoff push. These Orioles (68-77) are out of postseason contention after an awful start to the season that resulted in a managerial firing in May and a trade deadline fire sale in July.

Before Beavers’ walk-off hit, Tyler Wells returned to Camden Yards’ mound for the first time since his elbow surgery last June and looked like he never left.

Wells retired the first 10 batters he faced, mowing down the Pirates’ lineup until he faced first baseman Spencer Horwitz in the fourth. Horwitz blasted a low-and-in cutter onto the flag court to put Pittsburgh up 1-0.

Only one more Pirate would reach base (a walk by Ji-Hwan Bae to lead off the sixth) off Wells before he was pulled as his pitch count neared 90. Relievers Shawn Dubin, Kade Strowd and Rico Garcia followed Wells with scoreless appearances to send the game to extras.

Wells returned last week and pitched five innings of two-run ball against the Padres in his first start in 508 days. The former Rule 5 draft pick underwent surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament last June.

He rejoined Baltimore’s rotation shortly after ace Kyle Bradish, who also underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery last June. Bradish has been dominant in two of his three starts, and Wells has looked like himself in both of his. In fact, Wells looks strikingly similar to the pitcher he was in 2023 when he was an All-Star candidate. He generated 14 whiffs Wednesday for only the ninth time in his career.

Skenes also stymied Orioles hitters, but he did so in his typical overpowering fashion. The National League Cy Young Award front-runner struck out eight batters and allowed only two hits — a Ryan Mountcastle single and a Beavers double — across his five innings. He pitched tossed five because the Pirates are managing his workload this month.

After the Orioles couldn’t score off reliever Carmen Mlodzinski in the sixth or seventh, the bats strung together three hits in the eighth off right-hander Isaac Mattson. Colton Cowser and Dylan Carlson led off the frame with singles, and Holliday drove in Cowser with a two-out opposite-field single. Mattson briefly pitched for the Orioles in 2021 after he was acquired alongside Bradish in the Dylan Bundy trade in December 2019, but Baltimore released him in 2022. Pirates righty Dennis Santana pitched a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras.

Instant analysis

The assumption from some — and the hope from Orioles fans — is that general manager Mike Elias will acquire multiple starting pitchers this offseason.

A back-of-the-napkin 2026 rotation with two new names in it would result in Wells outside of the top five. Because he’s been an effective back-end reliever several times in his career, it’s easy to just pencil him into the bullpen. But given this team’s injury woes the past two seasons, it’s quite likely that Wells will be needed to start a significant number of games next season.

Wells’ strength as a reliever shouldn’t be interpreted as a deficiency of his starting abilities. Sure, he struggled to maintain his strong first halves in 2022 and 2023, and then had elbow surgery in 2024. But few starting pitchers under contract for the Orioles next season are better than Wells. The 31-year-old’s career WHIP is an excellent 1.028. His career hits per nine innings rate is a sparkling 6.96. His walks per nine innings rate is an elite 2.29.

Those numbers simply mean that Wells is a good major league starting pitcher. If the Orioles’ rotation is so deep next season that it pushes Wells to a relief role, that means Baltimore might finally have a starting corps worthy of a postseason run.

What they’re saying

Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino on the perspective players can gain when on the injured list:

“I think when guys have the game taken away from them, whether it be an injury or another reason, I do think they can get a lot out of it when they have to sit there and watch. I think guys tend to mature a little bit, not that they needed to, but you tend to mature sitting there and not being able to do what you love. You tend to really seize every opportunity that you get, not throw away any time in the game that you have. I just think you get a massive perspective on how fortunate we are to be in the big leagues when you don’t get to be are you hoping that some of your young position players.”

By the numbers

Beavers played his 20th MLB game Wednesday. He’s already walked 16 times in 75 plate appearances for a walk rate of 21.3%. Juan Soto leads qualified MLB hitters with an 18.5% walk rate.

Beavers is an outlier among an Orioles team that doesn’t walk often. Here are some other walk totals from Orioles players:

— Jordan Westburg: 15 walks in 304 plate appearances.

— Tyler O’Neill: 15 walks in 164 plate appearances.

— Ryan Mountcastle: 14 walks in 316 plate appearances.

— Heston Kjerstad: 6 walks in 167 plate appearances.

— Gary Sánchez: 4 walks in 101 plate appearances.

— Jorge Mateo: 4 walks in 69 plate appearances.

On deck

With the end of the season quickly approaching, Thursday will be Cade Povich’s third-to-last start of the year. They could be important ones for the 25-year-old left-hander, who has at times shown promise this season but has posted similar numbers (3-7, 5.16 ERA) as last year. Povich will pitch opposite right-hander Johan Oviedo (2-0, 2.70 ERA).

Around the horn

— The Orioles are on Wednesday designated the seven players they’re sending to the Arizona Fall League after the season ends. The most notable names getting extra playing time are outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. and left-hander Luis De León, who are ranked by Baseball America as Baltimore’s Nos. 6 and 15 prospects, respectively. Catcher Ethan Anderson, outfielder Thomas Sosa and pitchers Zach Fruit, Carson Dorsey and Andy Fabian will also be playing in the AFL.

— Mansolino provided several injury updates before the game. Tyler O’Neill (wrist), who is out on a minor league rehabilitation assignment, is expected to rejoin the Orioles on Friday in Toronto. Sánchez (knee), who began his rehab assignment Wednesday with Triple-A Norfolk, won’t return to the Orioles until the final week of the season. “That type of stuff, you can’t rush,” Mansolino said.

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