It’s July 5, 1996, and O’s starter David Wells battled all the way into the ninth, but he left with two runners on, down 4-3. Reliever Alan Mills came on and promptly gave up a three-run homer to Jose Canseco that put the game out of reach. With the 7-3 loss to the Red Sox, the O’s are now a season-high six games behind the Yankees in the AL East.

Though he picked up his eighth loss of the season, the team was proud of Wells that he didn’t implode after giving up four runs in the fifth inning.

“He maintained really well,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said, according to the Sun’s Jason LaCanfora. “I thought, all things considered, that was about as good a game as we’ve pitched all year. He stayed focused the whole game. That’s what we’ve been looking for.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1C, July 6, 1996)

Red Sox starter Aaron Sele outdueled Wells on the night, going 7⅔ innings and giving up three runs. The O’s only got four hits on the night, and Brady Anderson had two of them, including a two-run double that briefly gave the O’s a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

“[Sele] kept everybody off balance,” said O’s second baseman Roberto Alomar. “If you keep everybody off balance, it’s tough to hit him. He had a slow curveball and a good fastball that he moved in and out. That made him difficult to hit.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5C, July 6, 1996)

Here’s the box score with the not-so-lovely totals.

In tomorrow’s game, O’s 22-year-old rookie Rocky Coppinger will face his boyhood idol, fellow Texan Roger Clemens. 

“I’m excited about it,” Coppinger said. “Roger was a real idol to me just because of the way he goes after guys. He knocks people down once in a while. I kind of try to take after him.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1C, July 6, 1996)

Best of luck, rook.

No dingers in this one.

Orioles (45-38) at Red Sox (35-48) 7:35 p.m.
BOS – RHP Roger Clemens (3-7, 4.02 ERA)
BAL – RHP Rocky Coppinger (3-0, 4.62 ERA)

You knew it was coming. The number one movie in America on July 5, 1996, is, of course, “Independence Day.” It pulled in a whopping $50 million its opening weekend. “The Nutty Professor” was a strong second with over $25 million, and the new John Travolta joint, “Phenomenon,” opened with over $24 million. The total box office for the holiday weekend across the country was over $163 million.

In a front page wire story from the LA Times, researchers are finally getting closer to finding the drug combination to effectively treat AIDS. As the story says, the researchers are cautious about using the word “cure,” but the drug cocktail they have found can reduce HIV concentrations in AIDS patients to levels below detectability.

“If you had asked me in January, ‘Can you eradicate HIV infection?’ I would have laughed in your face,” said Dr. Julio Montaner of the University of British Columbia. “But now we’ve been able to demonstrate that we can effectively suppress viral production. That is leading to a dramatic change in how we think about the disease.”

While I’m sure the doctors are really excited, AIDS activists are pointing out the all-too-common problem with life saving medications: Can anyone actually afford them?

At this time, there are an estimated 650,000 to 900,000 Americans living with the disease — and more than 325,000 have died (though 1994 is the most recent year with data, so that total is likely much higher).

But worldwide it is much worse. An estimated 21 million people have contracted the virus, 4.5 million people have full-blown AIDS, and 4 million people have died.

There have been many false starts when it comes to a “cure” for AIDS, and most people aren’t getting their hopes up just yet. “I refuse to say that word at this point,” Dr. Richard D’Aquila of Mass General Hospital said, when discussing a “cure.”

As the article concludes, “Perhaps it is more appropriate, added Dr. Roy Gullick of the New York University Medical School, to talk about ‘turning AIDS into a long-term manageable and treatable disease, much like hypertension and diabetes.”

It would get way worse before it got better. 

According to UNAIDS, as of 2025, 43.2 million people worldwide have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the pandemic. However, new HIV infections have been reduced by 65% since the peak in 1995, and AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 74% since the peak in 2004. Still, roughly 570,000 people died in 2025 of the disease, the equivalent of one person every minute throughout the year.

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

How much rotisserie chicken could you eat?