A look at two starting pitchers excelling for the Frederick Keys (plus O's notes)

Neither pitcher was a high draft pick. Both are 23 and having very solid seasons for the Orioles' Single-A Frederick affiliate. Right now, they hold two of the top three spots among Carolina League ERA leaders.

Left-hander John Means was drafted by the Orioles in Round 11 in 2014 out of West Virginia University. In that same draft, the Orioles took right-hander Matthew Grimes in Round 18 out of Georgia Tech.

So far, they have combined to make 16 starts for Frederick and have allowed two earned runs or less in all of them. Yep, rather impressive by both.

Means, who pitched a seven-inning no-hitter for Single-A Delmarva last season, is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.09, ranking third in the league. In 43 innings, he has allowed just nine walks with 46 strikeouts. Over his past four starts - a span of 23 innings - Means has walked five and fanned 31.

"He has a very good arm and in addition, his arm strength and his overall conditioning have gotten significantly better over the past year," Orioles director of player development Brian Graham said.

The Orioles asked Means to improve his conditioning and he got the job done over the winter.

"It was definitely directed by us, but he did it," Graham said. "He followed a program and got his body in shape and he executed a throwing program and he came into spring training in really good shape. He looks like a different person this year and it's a great thing to see. His fastball velocity and his endurance is improved and the added strength allows him to have more control of his ability to pitch."

Means throws his fastball between 89-93 mph along with a curveball and a changeup.

"When he commands his fastball, it is a solid-average major league pitch," Graham said. "He has some sink at the bottom of the zone and he maintains his velocity through 90 to 100 pitches. He just has gotten better. His curveball has good rotation, action and life. When he throws it for strikes, it's a solid-average major league pitch."

Grimes is 5-2 with a 1.61 ERA over eight starts for Frederick. He has allowed one earned run or less six times. Over 44 2/3 innings, he has walked 12 and fanned 30, and his ERA ranks second in the league.

"He throws with good downhill plane and mixes his pitches well," Graham said. "His velocity goes from 89 to 93 and the angle he creates certainly helps his fastball. He can throw four pitches for strikes.

"There are two others pitchers there that have also been impressive: Lucas Long (1-2, 3.95 ERA) and Cory Jones (1-2, 3.86 ERA). They've got four guys there at Frederick that have thrown the ball extremely well."

O's go for series win today: After last night's 5-2 win over Seattle, the Orioles play the third and deciding game of this series today at 12:35 p.m. A win would improve the Orioles to 11 games over .500 at 25-14 and would make them 9-3-1 in 13 series in 2016.

Chris Tillman has six wins already and the Orioles have not even played 40 games yet. Tillman improved to 6-1 and a 2.61 ERA last night. He has six straight quality starts and is 5-0 with a 1.83 ERA in that span. Last year, the Orioles went 15-16 in Tillman's 31 starts. This season, they are 8-1 in his nine starts with six wins in a row.

Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters hit back-to-back homers in the second inning of Wednesday's win. That was the seventh time this year that the O's have gone back-to-back and that is already one more time than they did that in all of 2015. According to last night's MASN telecast, the club record for most back-to-back homer games in a season is 16 in 1996.