O's game blog: John Means makes his final 2021 start

The Orioles play the penultimate game of the 2021 season this afternoon. After a 6-4 loss Friday night, they are back at Rogers Centre for Game 2 of the season-ending three-game series.

Toronto scored twice on Danny Jansen's homer in the third inning and then opened a 6-0 lead, scoring four runs in the last of the sixth. The Orioles pulled within 6-4 in the eighth, both avoiding their 11th shutout and pushing the Blue Jays to the point they needed closer Jordan Romano to get five outs. He recorded his 23rd save, but had to throw 32 pitches to close it out.

The Orioles (52-108) are 4-4 over their past eight games and 5-6 in the last 11. They are 25-54 on the road and 11-18 since Sept. 1. They are 20-54 in games within the American League East and now 5-12 versus Toronto, 2-6 in road games.

Since Aug. 1, 2019, the Orioles are 10-27 against Toronto. In that span, they are 0-9-2 in 11 series since winning one from July 5-7, 2019 at Rogers Centre.

In the tight AL wild card race, New York (91-69) holds the No. 1 position with Boston (90-70) holding the second spot, beginning play today. Toronto and Seattle (both 89-71) are one game behind the Red Sox.

Pat Valaika drilled a two-run home run in the top of the eighth on Friday to pull the Orioles within 6-3. It was his firth homer of the year and first since July 23 versus Washington, snapping a 24-game homerless drought. Valaika has hit safely in 10 of 17 games since being recalled from Triple-A on Sept. 14, batting .224 (13-for-58).

Kelvin Gutiérrez hit a solo homer off Steven Matz leading off that eighth inning to get the Orioles on the board. That extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine straight games, during which he is batting .414, going 12-for-29 with two doubles, two homers, three RBIs and an OPS of 1.158.

Austin Hays went 2-for-4 with two singles. That marked his 28th multi-hit game of the season. Hays has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games against Toronto, going 18-for-58 (.310) with four doubles, a triple, two homers, eight RBIs and an OPS of .834.

Hays has reached base safely in 18 straight games since Sept. 12, the longest active streak in the AL. He has hit safely in 25 of 28 games in September, including seven multi-hit efforts, and has hit safely in 48 of his last 56. His 31 extra-base hits since the All-Star break lead the O's, while his 39 RBIs are the second-most to Ryan Mountcastle's 41.

In their win last night, the first five hitters in Toronto's lineup, which included four players with 100 or more RBIs, went 3-for-20. Batters No. 6 through No. 9 - Corey Dickerson, Santiago Espinal, Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio - went 9-for-15 with two doubles, two homers, six runs and five RBIs.

The Blue Jays have won 20 of their last 29 games and are 26-14 their past 40 games. They are 40-34 in AL East games.

The O's John Means (6-8, 3.32 ERA) makes his 26th start today. Had he enough innings to qualify for league leaders, he would rank first in the AL in WHIP (1.002) and fourth in ERA.

Despite pitching well in many starts this year, the Orioles are 8-17 when Means gets the start and 1-9 over the last 10. He has allowed two earned runs or less in five of his past six starts, going 1-2 with a 2.78 ERA and .211 average against in that span. In 13 road starts, he is 5-3 with a 2.27 ERA and the Orioles are 6-7 in those games. That is the lowest road ERA in the AL and third lowest in the majors.

With that 1.002 WHIP, Means is looking to become the fourth O's pitcher in team history (minimum 100 innings pitched) to post a sub-1.000 WHIP. The others to do it are Dave McNally in 1968 (0.842 in 273 innings), Dick Hall in 1963 (0.958 in 111 2/3 innings) and Stu Miller in 1965 (0.997 in 119 1/3 innings).

Right-hander Alek Manoah (8-2, 3.35 ERA) makes his 20th start this afternoon. Toronto is 15-4 in the first 19 and has won seven in a row. In his last three starts, Manoah is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA, allowing four earned runs over 19 2/3 innings with eight walks and 25 strikeouts.

In his eight home starts, he is 4-0 with a 2.47 ERA and 0.930 WHIP. Toronto is 7-1 in those eight games, losing only on June 25 when he started against the Orioles.

The Orioles have gone 4-6 in the past 10 years' penultimate games. Their 108 losses are tied for the second-most in Orioles history, along with the 2019 season. The club record is 115 losses in 2018.

Check out this tweet where today O's skipper Brandon Hyde took a chance to give a push for Mountcastle for AL Rookie of the Year.

"Can we start talking about (Ryan Mountcastle) a little more for Rookie of the Year, please?"

🗣🗣🗣 pic.twitter.com/A2vgLp4ohj

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) October 2, 2021