Sep 20, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher John Means (47) throws against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA—Orioles pitcher John Means has been critical of his recent starts, but he had little to complain about on Monday night.
Means allowed just four hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0, before an announced crowd of 21,140 at Citizens Bank Park. He also hit a 400-foot double, much to the delight of his teammates.
It was just the second win for Means (6-7) since his May 5th no-hitter, and probably his best start of the season other than that masterpiece.
He struck out six and walked one. It was his first win since July 31st.
“This felt more like me,” Means said. “The changeup was good today, finally. The fastball was working, the curveball wasn’t as good, but I made it through. This felt like more my style of pitching.”
The Orioles (48-102) had lost eight of nine and don’t play American League East teams for a week.
“This was our best starter giving a great effort,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He pitched an outstanding ballgame … Meansy had the changeup tonight. That was the big difference. It was something that he’s struggled with the past handful of starts, finding the changeup again, and he did tonight … a great job pitching against a team that’s fighting for a playoff spot.”
Philadelphia (76-74) began the evening two games behind National League East-leading Atlanta.
The Orioles, who had not won a game when scoring two or fewer runs this season, began quickly in the first with singles from four of the first five batters — Austin Hays, Anthony Santander, Pedro Severino and Ryan McKenna. Severino and McKenna had RBIs to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead and end the scoring for the night.
“I was happy with how we swung the bat in that first inning,” Hyde said.
Means walked Bryce Harper with two outs in the first and Andrew McCutchen singled to lead off the second. Means retired 13 straight until Odúbel Herrera’s base hit with one out in the sixth.
Phillies starter Ranger Suarez (6-4) settled down after the first. No other runner reached second in his six innings.
Means doubled with one out in the seventh and tried to take third when a pitch from Sam Coonrod got away from J.T. Realmuto but was thrown out.
It’s likely that in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the designated hitter will come to the National League.
“If that’s my last at-bat,” Means said. “I’m happy with it.”
Hyde had fun talking about Means’ at-bat and attempt to reach third.
“That was the last thing I wanted to see,” Hyde said. “Either a homer where you can jog or a punchout, but he hits a double, which we’re going to hear [about] for the next 13 days and into spring training, and then he decides to advance on a wild pitch off the best throwing catcher in the league. But he’s happy about his pop-up slide, and I didn’t want to see any of that.”
It was the first hit by an Orioles pitcher since Means singled against Arizona on July 24, 2019.
In the bottom of the seventh, Realmuto led off with a single. With one out, Pat Vierling singled. After Didi Gregorius hit into a force play, Cole Sulser replaced Means, who threw 105 pitches, more than in any game but the no-hitter.
“He was very good, especially when he used the fastball a lot,” Severino said. “He just tried to work on the changeup like he did in 2020. When he locates the fastball, the other pitches have to work for sure. That’s what we did tonight.”
Freddy Galvis lined to right to end the seventh, and Sulser retired the side in order in the eighth.
Harper began the ninth with a long fly to center against Tyler Wells. Realmuto hit a drive to right that Santander caught, and Andrew McCutchen popped to Severino as Phillies fans booed. It was Wells’ third save of the season, and the Orioles finished their fourth shutout, their first since July 18th.
With the victory, the Orioles surpassed their win total from 2018 when they recorded their fewest wins in team history and went 47-115.
“It’s a really good team with a really big payroll, got a ton of veteran players,” Hyde said. “I think we’re playing like we’ve got nothing to lose, like we should, but we’re playing postseason-type rosters. We’re very, very inexperienced. We’ve struggled on the mound. Tonight, we had a good pitching performance and scored a couple of runs early.”
Notes: Hyde said that Chris Ellis has arm fatigue and won’t start on Tuesday night. The Orioles will throw a bullpen game and announce the starter during the day. Philadelphia will also throw a bullpen game.
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Pedro Severino 2-4 with a RBI batting clean up. He was obviously encouraged by BHoff and CP's encouraging words in the previous post. The burning question is who will they target with their encouragement today? Stayed tuned!
… and you had the nerve to call me out the other day for a misspelling… “Stayed tuned!” Go back to school and learn your tenses! Sheesh… just saying…
He's a "do as I say" not a "do as I do" kind of human.
His Royal Highness is allowed such inconsistencies.
Pedro Severino won’t be on this team next year and if he gets a backup roll on another club he will never see the four slot again in his career
Anyone from the BB team going to Bowie today and/or tomorrow?
Yes
As dismal as this season has been at times, we are still 1 game better than the 2018 team with 12 games to go…looking forward to next year when more of our prospects arrive
As an old baseball fan,and I mean old--first big-league game was 1961 at Yankee Stadium,and somewhat of a "purist" I will say one thing: get the damn DH in the NL. Lineups and intimidation,unless you're the Dodgers,lacks in that league. One more NL(Phillies) thing--how can you be in the thick of a pennant race and not have a pitcher(TBA) lined up and ready to go? Talk about a team backing into the playoffs. Wells tries and sometimes succeeds in closing games but boy he gets hit hard in the process. Interesting that Mullins was brought in for defense in the 9th but McKenna was the one he replaced. A real head scratcher there Brandon. Means is smooth,best way to describe him. He actually made the game kinda boring which is good. Just glad to not see Boston,TB,Toronto in the opposing duggout(yeah I purposely omitted the Yankees).
Al, Mullins was inserted as part of a double switch. If the Phillies tied it, he would have led off the 10th.
Means has settled back in. I think the shoulder injury was worse then they let on. That lineup was atrocious last night. Surprised they even scored two runs. Bullpen was good for once.
I will say, Brandon's managing style is truly unique. Severino hitting 4th and Mckenna hitting 5th? The only thing that is assured is K's. It is amazing, he only has 5 offensive players (total) and sits 2 of them? It's a 6 month season with a whole team of young guys, NOBODY GETS TIRED and they've got 6 months to "rest". Brandon's time has surely come and gone, please.
Hmmm, totally agree with you…go O’s…
Hyde will be back to bench coach if he gets a job after this . Maybe they will give the job to Freddy G is that is name. I spoke to him a few years ago. He’s quite a character
Buck Britton’s interview was very interesting (not like Laugh In), he gets my vote as replacement…go O’s…
I think you mean Kyle Moore.
Buck Britton was interviewed by Garceau and Palmer during the game
If you’re referring to me, Buck was with the broadcast last night for two innings, not sure who you’re talking about, Palmer even asked him about playing in the minors & wished him luck in the playoffs…go O’s…
Todd did an interview with Aberdeen manager Kyle Moore for Monday.
When I’m at the game, I’m not watching on television, and when it’s a road game, the feed that’s on in the press box is from the home team, not MASN.
Marty, thank you for clarifying.
CP thanks for clarifying, you’re not losing your mind…go O’s…
I’m addressing this statement/question to all those who seem to think Hyde is the worst manager in baseball. What do any of you think the record of these O’s teams that Hyde has managed would’ve been with Earl Weaver, Hank Bauer or ANY other manager? I submit it wouldn’t have been a hell of a lot better. NO manager would succeed with this roster, in particular this pitching staff. Listen, I’m no Hyde apologist. I just think he deserves some credit for even undertaking this task. Let’s see how much of a better manager he miraculously becomes once AR, GR, Hall, and others arrive and hopefully become the players everyone thinks they’ll become.
Gruber, I think it's hard to evaluate Hyde. His contract seems to be a mystery. He probably has to have something on paper to satisfy MLB, but I have a feeling that he's the equivalent of a day-laborer working at the pleasure of ME. As long as he does what he's told --and I think a lot of his moves are dictated from above-- he'll keep his job. I would not compare him to any manager of note because no manager successful enough to have any measure of leverage would accept Hyde's working conditions, which are the only ones acceptable to ME at this time. Just my inferences from available information, but the lack of transparency is part of the deal.
Unless the manager could also pitch, say a 30 year old Jim Palmer as a player-manager, a different manager wouldn't make much difference with this squad.
Gruber, I agree, man. We all know this team was, um, shall we say missing some key components.
Hyde has hung in there faithfully night after horrifying night.
Aside from yanking starters “early”, I have never dumped on this guy.
All sarcasm aside, he’s been as advertised. First year manager with some gaping holes in his ship.
I realize we can skewer him for moves he’s made, and critique him in myriad ways, and that’s fair. But I think that he’s been a steady hand through the season, at minimum.
I have no idea what his contract looks like or what will happen next year. I wonder even if he wants to come back. Who knows.
Will, your theory seems plausible & totally makes sense for O’s in 2021…go O’s…
So I will leave all sarcasm out of this. I promise.
Great game last night and John Means has certainly (along with Mullins and Montcastle) been a standout, a bright lite for the Baltimore MLB franchise this year.
Congrats to him on his resilience and a solid season.
… but I’ll bet he was holding his breath until the last out… just saying…
Proud of our guys for going with the pitch and taking some singles. Nicely done.
Not often does 2 runs hold up, but it did last night.
Means is a # 2 on any team, especially one that is scoring runs consistently.
Did y'all see Pedro almost blow that pop-fly and then recover? My heart was in my mouth. With 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, there are still ways to lose.
Great to see Means finishing strong! And hopefully Tyler Wells can gain more confidence. The team will be much better off when the bullpen guys can establish and reliably perform in specific roles.
You aren't talking about The O's bullpen? They have 2 pitchers in their bullpen, Wells and Lopez and that's it. The rest of the bullpen cannot "reliably perform in specific roles" because this bullpen is KAKA!
Sulser has been decent lately . I have no trust in anyone else including Tate who should wear longer pants
Per Brandon Hyde quote: “This was our best starter giving a great effort,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He pitched an outstanding ballgame … Meansy had the changeup tonight. That was the big difference. It was something that he’s struggled with the past handful of starts, finding the changeup again, and he did tonight … a great job pitching against a team that’s fighting for a playoff spot.” unquote. I had mentioned that this was John Means nickname quite a while ago and certain posters on this site called me a liar. So who's lying now.
Anyway, let's hope that all the other Orioles young pitchers making their debuts have all learned a lot this year going forward. I hate to think they all peaked. Anyway, since they're all rookies making their starts this year or from the end of last year, the cost of this pitching staff isn't a lot of money! Hopefully, maybe one of Dan Duquettes drafted pitchers will become a quality starter. The Idiom regarding the blind squirrel quote inserted here. Speaking of Dan Duquette and his mistakes on his signings that still haunts the Orioles payroll to this day.
The deferred payments on the four-year, $31 million deal that O’Day signed with the Orioles in December 2015 amount to $1 million in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Two more years to go! Sheesh
Mark Trumbo, who’s out of baseball, receives $1.5 million deferred in 2021 and 2022. The Orioles signed him to a three-year, $37.5 million deal in January 2017. One more year!
Andrew Cashner’s signing bonus on his two-year, $16 million deal in 2018 paid $1.5 million each in January 2020 and 2021. And he hasn't pitched since 2019! So he’s finally off the books now.
Not to mention the Alex Cobb and Chris Davis big mistakes with deferred payemts and salary!!!
So, for everyone stating the Orioles need to spend $$$$ on pitching and other players, I'm sure hoping that Mike Elias does so at the right time. But certainly not like how Dan Duquette did on payroll which the Orioles are still paying for and will so going forward!!! Deferring $$$ for someone young and you're keeping is one thing but paying for players not playing anymore or for another team just doesn't make much sense.
OriolesNumber1Fan, deferring money is not unique to Duquette. I’m guessing there’s players being paid by clubs all over baseball. I’m sure everyone in this site is familiar with Bobby Bonilla. Just sayin’.
grub - I know this was a trait of deferring $$$ by the Dan Duquette admin, but it doesn't make it right!!! It was wrong then and it's wrong now, like I explained!!! Unless you're paying for someone young and you're keeping like Adley Rutschman!!!
Let all the rich teams spend their $$$ foolishly deferring funds for players past their prime or for retired players like Bobby Bonilla with the NY Mets. Small market teams like the Orioles cannot afford to do so. You won't see other small market teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A's do this!!! The $$$$ they're paying these guys I have mentioned could have been used on a solid starting pitcher this year!!! Pitchers you are crying about that they're not signing!!!
Yep, said that a while ago, July 1 will become the new Bobby Bonilla day but O’s fans will celebrate Chris Davis Day, almost every organization has an albatross contract like his, they just handle it better…go O’s…
No matter what the dollar figure is, Hyde’s contract definitely allows for the following :
1. Eat as many sunflower seeds as desired.
2. Baseball business casual dress.
3. Unlimited premature or overdue yanking of pitchers.
4. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.