When the ice began to fall Saturday night at Camden Yards, the ill luck that has befallen the Orioles already this season cascaded down with it.

Manager Brandon Hyde tried to piggyback four scoreless innings from right-hander Tyler Wells with a lengthy relief outing from right-hander Mike Baumann. Instead, as the hail triggered a 49-minute weather delay, Baumann’s outing ended after two batters and nine pitches, forcing Hyde’s hand for a second time this season because of an unforeseen circumstance.

Last week, left-hander Dean Kremer suffered a left oblique strain while warming up to replace Wells. Now, there was ice in April, a head-scratching development that resulted in right-hander Travis Lakins Sr. emerging to pitch once the delay ended.

By the time the top half of the fifth inning ended — over an hour after it had begun — the Yankees had turned a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. New York would go on to add from there, capping a game that started over four hours earlier with a 5-2 win to even the series.

“We had some runners on, we had some chances,” Hyde said. “We just didn’t get a big hit.”

The announced attendance of 28,179 — a number buoyed by the visiting Yankees support — thinned as Saturday approached Sunday and the Orioles (2-6) continually stranded runners. Wells had been supported earlier by a two-run homer from center fielder Cedric Mullins, his third hit with a runner in scoring position this season. His Orioles teammates, however, have combined for just four hits in those situations, creating an offensive impasse that requires the pitching staff to be infallible.

Between the fifth and eighth innings, Baltimore had eight base runners. None of them were driven home.

Wells flirted with danger in his four innings, but the Yankees (5-4) didn’t break through until after the weather delay, when Hyde’s plan was interrupted again by something out of his control. Baumann had already warmed up for half an inning in the fourth. With rain approaching on the radar, sitting Baumann would’ve ended his night anyway.

So Hyde used him, Baumann threw nine pitches, and then the sky opened.

“That was unfortunate,” Hyde said.

When the game returned, Lakins took the mound rather than Baumann — the delay was too lengthy to keep Baumann hot. That’s when Lakins allowed four runs on five hits, with an additional run charged to Baumann — an inning as unseemly as the hail that had fallen earlier.

Stretching out

Conventional wisdom might have inspired the Orioles to maintain the status quo. Wells, playing his first season in the majors in 2021, excelled in a bullpen role — a way to manage his innings after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019 and missing 2020 because of COVID-19 cancellations.

Rather than leave him untouched, Baltimore hopes Wells can develop into a starting pitcher again, as he was in the minors. His first test last week went awry: He allowed four runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

But Wells provided more length Saturday, pitching four scoreless innings even though he had to work around base runners in each frame. He struck out three, walked two and allowed three hits, and his changeup — a main piece of his repertoire — caused four swings and misses.

“Whenever you’re walking people — which is a big no-no for me — and putting myself in a bad situation, I need to kind of revert back into making a big pitch and getting an out when I need it most,” Wells said.

It was a positive development for a pitching staff that could be without ace John Means for a significant period of the season, building on the 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball right-hander Jordan Lyles threw Friday. However, Hyde said four innings will roughly be Wells’ maximum this season, adding greater strain on a bullpen that wasn’t helped by a delay.

No take sign

The get-me-over fastball from right-hander Jameson Taillon never stood a chance. Mullins wasn’t interested in watching that 93 mph four-seamer groove in for a strike on a 3-0 count. So he swung, then watched the ball soar to right field, then flipped his bat.

The Orioles have struggled in such situations this season, striking out with runners in scoring position more often than driving them home. But Mullins has been the lone exception to that rule, and his two-run home run in the third inning left Camden Yards in a hurry — soaring into the night sky toward the B&O Warehouse at 107 mph.

Mullins hasn’t done that before — he’s hit homers, of course, but he’s never done so on a 3-0 count. The Orioles have irregularly done it themselves, with Manny Machado’s 3-0 homer in 2018 the last example of such a display. Mullins himself had only swung at one 3-0 offering before Saturday.

His blast didn’t translate to the rest of the lineup, however. Twice the Orioles had the bases loaded, and twice they were stranded. Baltimore finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position Saturday, bringing its season tally to 7-for-77.

“We’re playing close games every single night.” Hyde said. “The game can be changed with a hit here, a hit there. But happy with how competitive we are. We’re just not getting the big hit to make it easy on ourselves.”

YANKEES@ORIOLES

Sunday, 1:05 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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