Means loses no-hit bid and game 5-4 (with quotes)

The fingerprints are fading from the John Means panic button.

Another loss surfaced tonight, but Means seemed to be fine. He just couldn't hold form or catch a break after the fifth inning, which is a distinct pattern with the Oriole in 2019.

Means carried a no-hit bid into the sixth, faced six batters and didn't record an out. He threw 28 pitches. A one-run lead disappeared like those fingerprints.

The Royals scored three times, with Gabriel Ynoa leaving the bases loaded, and the Orioles lost again 5-4 before an announced crowd of 11,659 at Camden Yards.

The rookie was in first-half mode before the game unraveled for him, and the Orioles extended their losing streak to eight. They've dropped 13 of 14 and are 39-86 overall and 18-44 at home.

Rio Ruiz homered off Ian Kennedy with two outs in the ninth to complete a 10-pitch at-bat and Jonathan Villar reached on an infield hit, but the comeback fell short.

Nicky Lopez and Nick Dini hit back-to-back home runs off Ynoa to open the seventh and leave the Orioles one short of tying the 2016 Reds for the major league record. Lopez had one homer before tonight, Dini none.

Means posted an 8.34 ERA and 1.721 WHIP since the All-Star break and the Orioles worked to fix a delivery that pitching coach Doug Brocail described after the last start as "all over the place."

They got an immediate return, with Means cruising through five innings. The last non-combined no-hitter in Orioles history came from Hall of Famer Jim Palmer in 1969.

Lopez led off the top of the sixth by slapping a fastball past third base for a single. Ruiz had no shot at making a play. Lopez motored from first to third when Villar fielded Dini's grounder up the middle and flipped the ball to Hanser Alberto, who botched it for an error.

Rather than turn a double play, the Orioles stuck Means in a serious jam in a one-run game.

Whit Merrifield tied it with a single and Alex Gordon followed with a three-hopper into right field. Jace Peterson couldn't make a diving catch on Hunter Dozier's liner to left and the Royals led 3-1.

Jorge Soler walked to load the bases again and Means was gone. Ynoa retired the next three batters, with Alberto making a leaping catch to snare Bubba Starling's liner, and Means was charged with two earned runs in five-plus innings.

Jake Newberry replaced Jorge López in the bottom of the sixth and Villar greeted him with a home run to center field. Villar watched the flight of the ball and skipped part way up the line.

The Orioles put two runners on base and ran into two outs at third. Dozier fielded Steve Wilkerson's grounder, stepped on the bag for the force and threw past first. Cheslor Cuthbert retrieved the ball, got Wilkerson in a rundown and the Royals nabbed Renato Núñez trying to get back to third.

The Lopez and Dini homers, the latter with his family in the crowd, followed as a cruel juxtaposition.

DJ Stewart collected his first major league RBI since Sept. 29, 2018 when he doubled with one out in the second inning to score Peterson, who reached on a leadoff single.

Left-handed hitters were slashing .347/.406/.605 against López before tonight. Peterson and Stewart must have read the scouting report.

Alberto led off the bottom of the seventh against Scott Barlow with a deflected double and scored on a single by Stewart, who moved to second on Soler's throwing error. Because these teams are rebuilding.

The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs, but Antony Santander hit a fly ball to shallow left.

Hunter Harvey began to warm in the bullpen with the Orioles threatening to tie or take the lead. Miguel Castro got the call with the deficit at two runs.

Means didn't look like he'd need more than one run against his hometown team, which had lost 16 of its last 21 games before tonight. Dozier was the only baserunner with a two-out walk in the first inning. Means retired the next 13 batters.

Starling, Means' former high school teammate, and Humberto Arteaga struck out to end the fifth. No one came close to getting a hit.

Gordon led off the fourth by lining into the shift, the ball hit directly to Villar, who didn't move an inch. Fly balls had outfielders charging instead of retreating. None of the grounders threatened to find a hole.

Games tend to shift for the Orioles in the sixth. They've now been outscored 125-50.

In a season when the Orioles have to dig deep to find positive nuggets outside of the minors, they'll take the first five innings from tonight's starter and breathe a sigh of relief.

Notes: The Orioles released pitchers Josh Lucas and Matt Wotherspoon from their Triple-A contracts.

Dwight Smith Jr. went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the Tides in his first injury rehab game.

Catcher Austin Wynns headed back to Norfolk earlier today after the Orioles determined that Chance Sisco would avoid the injured list. Wynns was on the taxi squad, as I reported earlier today, but his stay didn't last 24 hours.

Short-season Single-A Aberdeen catcher Adley Rutschman is 5-for-5 tonight with his first home run in the state of Maryland, a triple and four RBIs.

Hyde on whether felt better about Means through fifth: "He didn't give up a hit through five. Was really throwing the ball well. Throwing the ball well in the sixth, too. Just a couple of well-placed singles and an error in the middle that really hurt. Unfortunately, he was throwing the ball great and things kind of unraveled for us again in that sixth inning."

Hyde on whether thought Means could go seven or eight innings: "Well, you're hoping, but it's baseball and so anything can happen. But, yeah, he was cruising right along through five innings and a little slap single down the left field line to break up the no-hitter there in the sixth and we don't make a play in the middle that we need to make that really changed the whole inning. And it didn't happen after that. Gordon with the seeing-eye single to the right side.

"He threw the ball great. I'm really pleased with how he threw the ball, I thought he had a really good fastball tonight and kept guys off-balance. Just unfortunate that he left down a few runs."

Hyde on what was different about Means: "I just thought his command was better of all his pitches. I thought he had a better changeup than he had last time out. I thought he had a better fastball than he's had the last couple times out. He was down in the zone with the changeup more and his fastball had a bunch of life tonight."

Hyde on whether Means is susceptible to soft contact singles: "I think anytime a changeup guy is going to get some end-of-the-bat ground balls. He's an elevated fastball-changeup guy, so there's going to be foul balls, there's going to be end-of-the-bat mis-hits. And tonight, just a couple ground balls got through that hurt."

Hyde on what Orioles did wrong with rundowns in sixth: "I think that if we did it again, Wilkerson would just continue to go to second base. I haven't talked to him why he stopped there, what the confusion was. But he stopped halfway through and once there's a rundown with two outs, you're just trying to do anything to score the run from third base. So, no, it's not a teaching point or anything, except recognizing where the ball is and continuing or stopping."

Hyde on whether Harvey would come in if tied or lead: "Harvey was up, he wasn't warming up. He was throwing a little bit, but I didn't have the catcher down. He was going to possibly come in if we took the lead there."

Means on whether mechanics were better: "Yeah. We've been working on a lot of stuff between outings and trying to figure out what works best for me and I thought the first five innings I was doing exactly what I was working on. My pitches were doing what they were supposed to, I was locating how I was supposed to, and then the sixth I felt like I was starting to trend back to what I was doing wrong. It's just a little mechanical adjustment that I'm looking forward to making next outing."

Means on whether bad luck in sixth: "Luck doesn't happen if you strike people out. It's one of those things, like if my pitches were doing it, if I was locating where I wanted to, I could have gotten through it. It's one of those things I thought I did a really good job the first half of the year, I was good at limiting the runners from scoring. I just haven't been able to do that and I think it's a little mechanical flaw right now."

Means on facing Royals: "It was a little different. I was trying to think who on that team I grew up watching. Alex Gordon was one of them and they have a lot of new guys now, so it's a little different. But seeing the Royals jersey, I grew up going to those games all the time."

Means on whether amped up to face Starling: "I wouldn't say amped up. It was a cool experience. You never see two small-town Kansas kids go at it in the big leagues, so it was a lot different."

Ruiz on late-inning homers lately: "It just kind of works out that way. Right there, obviously down two, trying to get the at-bat, potentially cutting it to one right there and (then) tie game. That guy's got some good stuff, he's got a terrific arm in the big leagues. I was lucky enough to get one."

Ruiz on whether he sensed momentum shift in ninth: "Not really. He was hitting his spots. He was using his heater, going up and down. I was just battling. Once I got to two strikes, I wanted to keep the ball in play. He left one up in the middle and I got it."