John Means was outstanding in his season debut for the Baltimore Orioles. Putting his 2021 no-hitter in a separate league, this may have been his best start as an Oriole. Again, I say that putting his no-hitter in a league of its own. Means’ line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K.
To be blunt, Means “mowed “em down” from the very beginning. Cincinnati hitters can up swinging, and Means was blowing the ball by them. And when he thought they were catching up to his stuff? He’d pull a string and throw a changeup in there.
It was a masterful effort, to say the least. Many times a pitcher’s final stat line isn’t always indicative of how he pitched in an outing. This wasn’t one of those games. Means’ stat line tells you EXACTLY how he pitched tonight.
The O’s got solo home runs from Jorge Mateo in the fourth, and Adley Rutschman in the fifth. When your starter is as dominant as John Means was this evening, you can afford to only throw two runs on the board. BUT…things got hairy in the ninth inning.
Craig Kimbrel surrendered a run on an RBI-single by Steer in the last of the ninth. Manager Brandon Hyde took the rare step of then pulling his closer, inserting Yennier Cano to attempt to close out the game. Cano would load the bases, but he did close out the inning and the game, helping to lift the O’s to victory.
Full disclosure, I raised my eyebrows at Kimbrel being yanked. However I think it does show that the Orioles are trying to win and win now. And end of the day, the result of the game says that Hyde was correct to do it.
Here’s an unsung moment in tonight’s game that stood out as well. India got aboard with a single in the last of the sixth. Jordan Westburg made an errant throw, allowing India a chance to go to second. (The play was initially ruled an error but later changed to a base hit.) Jorge Mateo backed up the play, and promptly threw India out at second base.
In what ended up being a one-run game, that’s a play that should stick out. Not only did the Orioles record an out, they did it by erasing a runner that would have been in scoring position. Again, in what ended up being a one-run game, that could have made a big difference.
The series concludes tomorrow at Great American Ballpark. Dean Kremer gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Cincinnati’s Nick Lodolo. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.
Birdland Crush 