Givens, Kline yield late home runs in 4-2 loss (updated)

Orioles left-hander John Means must hear the All-Star talk and wonder if he's restricted to endorsing a candidate rather than being seen as one.

Means set a career high tonight with seven strikeouts while holding the Tigers to one run and three hits in six innings. He mixed his pitches, he showed the usual composure. And he did his part to lead the Orioles to a rare series win.

You can lead a team there, but the bullpen has to ensure that it happens.

Keon Broxton hit his first home run at Camden Yards to break a tie in the fourth inning and Mychal Givens excelled in the seventh in a lower-leverage situation. But the right-hander served up a leadoff home run to John Hicks in the eighth to again knot the score and Brandon Dixon's two-run shot off Branden Kline in the ninth gave the Tigers a 4-2 win before an announced crowd of 10,614 at Camden Yards.

There were 236 dogs on the premises for "Bark in the Park Night." The Orioles will want to bury this game in the backyard, another late-inning lead change costing them a first series win since April 22-24.

The Orioles are 17-39 overall and 7-21 at home entering Thursday's long-awaited off-day.

Working the seventh inning for the first time since July 27, 2018, Givens retired the side in order on a liner to Trey Mancini and two strikeouts. He came back out for the eighth and watched a 95 mph fastball land in the left field seats.

Givens has allowed nine runs and walked six batters in his last five appearances over four innings. He was tagged with three losses in a span of five games and a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly Sunday afternoon in Colorado produced his third blown save.

The six home runs surrendered this year are two more than his 2018 total in 69 games.

Manager Brandon Hyde provided the latest Orioles version of a reset by moving Givens out of the ninth inning. It worked for a while.

"You know, that was a good swing by Hicks and you know what? You tip your hat to him because that was a down, executed pitch and he got the head out," said catcher Austin Wynns. "Givens will get out of it. He had a really good inning. That's him. He'll get back to that."

"I'm going to keep throwing him out there," Hyde said. "That seventh was dominating and that's the stuff we're looking for on a nightly basis when he's out there. It's not going to be perfect. He just made a bad pitch to Hicks."

Kline was beaten on an 85 mph slider, his first pitch to Dixon, after issuing a leadoff walk to Nicholas Castellanos and retiring Miguel Cabrera on a fly ball.

"I'm just trying who's available," Hyde said. "We're just having a tough time getting through the last couple of innings. Looking for guys to step up and pitch in big spots. B.K. threw great in Colorado, wanted to give him the opportunity tonight. Just didn't happen. You just can't walk the leadoff guy.

"Mike threw really well in the seventh, a couple of strikeouts. Fourteen pitches, he was dominating. Left a pitch in the middle of the plate to Hicks. Disappointing loss, but looking for guys to step up late in the game out of the pen."

Hyde could have removed Givens after one feel-good inning but tried to squeeze another out or more.

"He was throwing the ball so well that I just wanted to get him another hitter or two," Hyde said. "I wanted him on Hicks. That didn't work out. When a guy's throwing the ball that well and he's rested and we have a day off tomorrow ... He's got really good numbers against all these guys and it just didn't happen."

Means lowered his ERA to 2.80 in 54 2/3 innings. He was paired tonight with an old new catcher.

Wynns hadn't been behind the plate in Means' first 12 appearances. Pedro Severino was the catcher in 10 games and Jesús Sucre in two. However, Wynns set the target for Means' major league debut on Sept. 26 in Boston and they teamed up numerous times in the minors.

Means had a 3.19 ERA with Severino and he allowed only one earned run in 6 1/3 innings with Sucre. He's been pretty good no matter the arrangement.

Asked what was working for Means, Wynns replied, "All his pitches."

"He and I go way back and we know each other very well," Wynns said. "His heater, his changeup, his slider, his curveball, they were all working and he did very well for us tonight."

Niko Goodrum ended Means' perfect run tonight with a leadoff single in the fourth on a ball that deflected off the rookie's glove. It wasn't a difficult play to make, which Means surely would point out if interviews were held on the mound.

Castellanos doubled to right-center field with one out to score Goodrum and tie the game.

Means recorded strikeouts in the third inning on a 80 mph changeup and 94 mph fastball and he racked up two more in the fourth on 86 and 87 mph sliders.

Ronny Rodríguez worked the count full leading off the fifth and swung through a 93 mph fastball, enabling Means to tie his career high with six strikeouts. He retired the side in order on 12 pitches after throwing 27 in the fourth.

"Means really threw well," Hyde said. "Gave us six great innings, one run. We got with him and Dylan (Bundy) yesterday some really good starts. You expect to win those types of games and we just didn't score enough and didn't lock it down late."

Goodrum struck out on a 93 mph fastball in the seventh to give Means a new career mark. A comebacker and fly ball to center field enabled Means to strand a runner and turn over the game to Givens.

"I definitely felt a lot better than the last couple (starts)," Means said. "I'm starting to figure some stuff out. Obviously not everything is going to roll throughout the whole season. It's nice to get some results after tweaking some things.

"I was happy with that my slider was doing even against righties. I usually throw it against lefties. But today even against righties it was doing well. The changeup and the fastball up was working,"

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Mancini was hit on the left foot by a Ryan Carpenter pitch with two outs and scored from first base on Renato Núñez's double to left-center field.

They led twice. They gave up three runs over the last two innings. And the next series win remains on hold.

"It is what it is," Means said. "I think I said last time, when you play 162 games, these are going to happen. It's going to happen to everybody. We have an off-day tomorrow so we'll come back the next day and hopefully get a win there."

"We'll try to figure it out," Wynns said. "Solid defense, pitch well and timely hitting. Bottom line. We've got to do that."

And send out relievers in the later innings who can get the necessary outs. The hardest ones, it seems.

"I'm just trying to give us the best matchup possible and our numbers aren't real good out of the pen," Hyde said. "It's who's available. We usually meet before the game and talk during the game about how we see it play out. Our numbers aren't real good out of the 'pen, so it's kind of a tough deal on a night-to-night basis.

"For the first two months of the season, I wanted to give the ball to Mike somehow. Now I wanted him to take a step back and give someone else an opportunity, try to get him back to being Mychal Givens again. Just didn't work out tonight."