O's game blog: John Means gets the start against the White Sox

The Orioles followed Monday's 12-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox with Tuesday's 9-1 win. They have two wins by eight runs this year and each followed a blowout loss. They beat Oakland 12-4 on April 8, one day after losing 15-3 and allowing seven home runs to the New York Yankees. They were shutout once, 4-0 by Boston on April 14. They won 8-1 the next night.

So they bounce back well.

Tonight, the Orioles (9-16) host the White Sox (9-13) in the rubber match of a three-game series. They are 1-0 in rubber match games in 2019, beating the Yankees 7-5 in New York on March 31.

The Orioles hit a season-high four homers last night. They had hit three in a game three times. They've hit 11 homers the last five games. And while this club is not expected to hit many homers, the Orioles lead the majors in home runs since 2012 with 1,557. The Yankees have 1,480 to rank second in that span, two more than Toronto.

Left-hander John Means (2-2, 1.72 ERA) gets the start tonight. Means is celebrating his 26th birthday today. According to STATS, LLC., Means is the 12th pitcher in Orioles history to start a game on his birthday and first since lefty Wei-Yin Chen did so on his 30th birthday on July 21, 2015. O's pitchers are 6-4 with a 3.82 ERA and the team is 7-4 when starting on their birthday. Means is the first pitcher in the majors to start on his birthday since Félix Hernández did so earlier this season on April 8 for the Seattle Mariners on his 33rd birthday.

Means has made six appearances and two starts. In the two starts, he is 0-2 but with an ERA of 2.25. Over eight innings he allowed eight hits and six runs (two earned) with two walks and four strikeouts.

Means was originally selected by Baltimore in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. He was drafted by Atlanta in the 46th round of the 2011 draft, but did not sign. Means attended Fort Scott Junior College for two seasons before transferring to West Virginia University.

According to BrooksBaseball.net, he throws his four-seam fastball 53 percent with an average velocity of 92.1 mph. He throws his changeup 36 percent at 80.5 mph. He has a swing and miss rate of 24.5 percent on his changeup and when it is put in play, opponents have hit just .161 against that pitch.

Right-hander Ervin Santana (0-1, 10.38 ERA) gets the start for Chicago. In two starts over 8 2/3 innings, he has allowed 13 hits and 10 runs, allowing five home runs. Santana needs one win for 150 in his career. In 16 career starts versus the Orioles he is 5-5 with a 4.44 ERA. His last complete-game shutout came in Baltimore on May 23, 2017 for Minnesota when he pitched a two-hitter.

The Orioles rank sixth in the American League with a .985 fielding percentage. They have committed 14 errors, tied for seventh-fewest in the AL. The O's have allowed only five stolen bases in 26 games, the fewest allowed in the AL and third-fewest in the majors. They have caught nine attempted base stealers, and their 64.3 caught stealing percentage is the best in Major League Baseball. The O's 29 double plays turned leads the majors.