Tyler Wells can’t complain about his health or the quality of his pitches. If the statistics matched his enthusiasm over the first week of the season, they’d be clean enough to sparkle. You could eat off them.

But this isn’t how baseball works.

Fortunately, the poor results aren’t eating at him.

Wells has surrendered a run in each of his three appearances to create a 10.13 ERA and 3.000 WHIP in 2 2/3 innings. And every reliever knows how long it takes to deflate fat numbers.

Let’s review how they got there:

Byron Buxton tripled into the left field corner in the eighth inning on Opening Day and scored on a fly ball, trimming the lead to 2-1. The ball hugged the fence and rolled along the track before Taylor Ward could retrieve it, and Buxton’s speed got him to third base.

Wells struck out Ryan Jeffers, and new closer Ryan Helsley stranded the tying run at second base.

Only two batters were retired in the eighth inning in Sunday’s 8-6 win, and Wells’ line was cluttered with a run, two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. A leadoff walk was followed by a single to left field at 75 mph. The RBI single was clocked at 77.5.

Manager Craig Albernaz didn’t like the walks but noted how Wells “made pitches when he had to make pitches.”

“And to me,” Albernaz said, “that’s the biggest thing.”

Three straight batters reached against Wells with one out in Monday night’s game, on a 110.2 mph double, infield hit and 67.9 mph bloop single. Ward raced in and attempted a sliding catch from his knees on a ball traveling 201 feet.

Josh Jung struck out on three pitches and Evan Carter flied out.

“Obviously, the numbers don’t reflect how I’m feeling, to be honest with you,” Wells said yesterday at his locker. “I feel great. I’m extremely happy with the way that the body’s moving, with the way that the arm feels. I’m extremely happy with my stuff. Really, just feels like a lot of bad luck right now. Balls just kind of falling where there’s no one at and just kind of getting through holes. And unfortunately, that’s baseball.

“Baseball is baseball. It’s gonna irritate the hell out of you.”

There are ways to cope with it, which Wells has learned.

Wells sought help in Arizona from Brian Cain, one of the world’s foremost authorities on mental performance – a decision he made after consulting last year with teammate Trevor Rogers. He’s relying on what he calls “stress testing” the mental work that he did in the offseason.

“Really just making sure that I’m prepared for these kinds of moments, make sure that I continue to trust in the process that has gotten me the results from a body perspective and from a pitch perspective that I’ve had so far in the first three outings,” Wells said. “So overall, I’m really, really happy with that. Unfortunately, the results just aren’t showing that.”

The Buxton triple is a double if the ball kicks out to Ward as he expected. Ward is learning the left field quirks at Camden Yards after the Orioles traded for him.  And Buxton can fly.

“It’s always these small things,” Wells said. “And again, baseball is a game of inches and certain little things can wreak havoc on statistics in a lot of ways. But you know, I would like to say, too, that it’s been cool to kind of get back out there in those moments.”

This is where Wells won’t lose perspective. He underwent a second elbow-reconstructive surgery, a UCL repair with internal brace augmentation, in June 2024 and didn’t pitch again in the majors until his four starts last September. The Orioles have moved him back to the bullpen, where he used to close and work in a set-up role.

Wells has made five Opening Day rosters but didn’t appear in a game until Thursday.

His life is good.

“Regardless of whether the results themselves haven’t shown it, it’s been a whole lot of fun to be able to go out there in the eighth and ninth inning and compete. And with the results right now it’s like, just got to keep focusing on that process,” he said.

“We’ve always talked about it that way. I’ve had that conversation with Alby, all the coaches, a lot of the players, and it’s really just trusting the fact that things may not be clicking in the way that we want to right now, but you stay the course and eventually they will. It’s not really how you start, it’s how you finish, and I think we’re on a good path right now and I’m going to keep hammering away.”

Albernaz used four relievers last night behind starter Zach Eflin, who exited after 3 2/3 innings with right elbow discomfort, but the bullpen phone wasn’t ringing for Wells. He needed the rest, but his early usage is a sign that the Orioles trust him and the fullness of his recovery.

“I said it in camp, it’s like, ‘Hey, if we’re going this, let’s do it,’” he said. “And really, right now it’s allowing me to kind of prove it to myself, it’s allowing me to prove it to other people within the organization that I’m capable of going out there on back-to-back days, one day’s rest, whatever it may end up being, and going out there and performing.

“I think these are small, little victories that you continue to take in and then eventually, hopefully at the end of the year we get to celebrate one big victory that all these small victories have accrued to.”