Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Wright turned in a stellar major league debut, with the rookie tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Filling in for an ailing Chris Tillman, Wright (1-0) held the Angels to four hits and struck out six without a walk to outduel Garrett Richards and enable the Orioles to avoid being swept in this three-game series.
"That is everything you dream of," said Wright. "I was a little nervous that first inning, but tried to enjoy it."
Richards (3-2) was terrific as well in finishing one out shy of an eight- inning complete game, but his wild pitch in the fourth allowed Adam Jones to score what turned out to be the deciding run.
Jones tacked on a two-run double in the eighth inning and finished 2-for-4, with Delmon Young also collecting a pair of hits for Baltimore.
Richards was charged with two runs on five hits and a walk while fanning seven.
Wright, promoted from Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday, showed he belonged right from the outset. The young right-hander set down the first nine Anaheim hitters, highlighted by an impressive strikeout of reigning American League MVP Mike Trout, while throwing a mere 38 pitches through three innings.
"That was pretty exciting, to have your first big league strikeout be Mike Trout," Wright said. "Pretty good thing to have."
His only trouble spot came when Kole Calhoun singled to open the fourth and took third on a one-out double by Albert Pujols. However, Manny Machado snared Erick Aybar's grounder to third and fired home to cut down Calhoun and thwart the Angels' best scoring chance of the day.
Consecutive singles by Jones and Young in Baltimore's half in the fourth put runners at the corners with one out. Richards then delivered a slider in the dirt that skipped to the backstop as Jones crossed the plate for a 1-0 lead.
Aybar's fielder's choice began a stretch of eight straight retired by Wright, which ended when Aybar singled in the seventh and was erased on a double play. Wright permitted one more hit, a one-out single to Matt Joyce, before exiting to a standing ovation in the eighth.
"He was just basically on top of the fastball and we couldn't square it up," Angels second baseman Johnny Giavotella remarked. "He was coming at us. You have to tip your hat off to him."
Brad Brach came in to strand Joyce, and Jones gave Baltimore some additional breathing room by belting a double to left center off Mike Morin to bring home Machado and Jimmy Paredes in the bottom of the eighth.
Zach Britton closed out the win despite surrendering a pair of hits in the ninth, fanning Giavotella with the tying run at the plate to nail down his eighth save.
Game Notes
Tillman was scratched from Sunday's assignment the previous night due to back stiffness ... The Angels had won eight straight road games started by Richards, which had been the longest active streak in the majors ... Wright, listed as Baltimore's No. 7 prospect by MLB.com, went 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA in six starts at Norfolk to earn his call-up ... Aybar ended 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to eight games ... The Angels were aiming for their first three-game sweep in Baltimore since Sept. 6-8, 2002.
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