John Means shuts down hot Boston team as O's take series opener

Maybe a question about Orioles left-hander John Means tonight was, after pitching well once this year against Boston, could he do it twice? And then tonight after going through the lineup once, could he do that twice? What about three times?

Yep, yep and yep. At least as far as they let him go.

Showing his strong changeup again with a nice early pitch mix with his slider, Means shut down a hot Boston team over seven innings as the Orioles beat the Red Sox 4-1 on a night where Jonathan Villar hit a grand slam.

But Means once again grabs headlines. Not bad for an 11th-round draft pick that was only ranked in an Orioles top 30 prospects list once, which was 29th in 2017 via MLB Pipeline.

Means gave up just two singles the first time through the order and was at 42 pitches through three. Leading 4-0, they finally scored off him in the fifth. Christian Vázquez led off with a double to left and moved up twice on fly balls.

But Means went a career-long seven innings allowing just three hits and one run. He did not walk a batter and fanned four, improving to 4-3 with a 2.48 ERA. He threw 96 pitches, 60 strikes and has allowed two runs in 12 innings for the year against Boston. He retired the last nine batters he faced tonight.

For just the second time this year, the Orioles starting pitchers have gone six or more innings in two straight games. David Hess and Andrew Cashner did that April 1-2 at Toronto. Now Dylan Bundy and Means have done so.

Means outing tonight came against a hot Red Sox team. They had scored 30 runs the last three games of their series in Chicago and 98 their past 16 games, during which they went 11-5. Boston began this game with a mark of 21-5 in its last 26 games versus the Orioles and 11-1 in its last 12 at Camden Yards.

In going 8-3 in 11 games before this series, Boston led the majors in batting average (.295), OBP (.393) and OPS (.872). But Means slowed them tonight by throwing 46 four-seam fastballs, 25 changeups, 21 sliders and four curveballs.

In the home second, it looked like the Orioles might blow a bases-loaded rally with no outs. Rio Ruiz singled, Stevie Wilkerson dropped a bunt single and Chris Davis walked. But two strikeouts later, right-hander Josh Smith was close to putting up a zero.

Then Villar drilled a first-pitch curveball out to center. The 407-foot shot made the lead 4-0 on the O's first grand slam of 2019. It was the second in his career for Villar. The first came on Sept. 4, 2016 for Milwaukee at Pittsburgh.

Means and two relievers made it stand up - Mychal Givens got a four-out save - as the Orioles improved to 13-22. They are 5-11 at home but 4-1 at Oriole Park since a 1-10 start to the season at the Yard.