Orioles hit halfway point with 13-0 win, familiar record (updated)

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hasn't memorized the standings. He isn't loyal to them. They aren't part of his daily reading.

The Orioles are halfway through their schedule following tonight's 13-0 romp over the Indians at Camden Yards that raised their record to 23-58.

They had the same amount of wins and losses at this point in 2018. Hyde will take your word for it.

"I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what our record is," he said before Chance Sisco and Anthony Santander homered while the Orioles built an 8-0 lead through two innings. And before Sisco finished the night with a career-high five RBIs, Santander amassed four and they went a combined 6-for-9.

The box scores are scannable. Just not the standings.

"I don't really want to look at it," Hyde continued. "It's about how we play right now. It's about developing these guys and how we play. And eventually I'm going to be looking at the standings and it's going to be about wins and losses. That's what the big leagues is about. But right now in our situation, it's about playing the game the right way, it's about giving guys opportunities, it's about trying to win every single night. And we just haven't done that very well.

"So it's where we are right now and it's going to take time and it's a process. And I have been through it in a couple different chairs and I saw how the process takes place and there's some tough, lean years that's not easy to go through, but when you come through it, there's nothing more rewarding, so I'm looking forward to that day."

Tonight's victory, which featured five scoreless innings from John Means, was the second for the Orioles in the last 15 games and fourth in 21. They will attempt this weekend to claim their first series after 18 failed attempts. They could win consecutive games for the first time since May 4-6.

Sisco and Santander stroked back-to-back two-run doubles off Adam Plutko in the eighth to build on the blowout, which gave the Orioles their 10th home win.

Means allowed only one hit, Carlos Santana's single with two outs in the first inning, and retired the last 11 batters while lowering his ERA to 2.50. He ended the last three innings with strikeouts on fastballs clocked at 94, 93 and 95 mph.

Sisco had a two-run shot in the first and RBI single in the second that chased Mike Clevinger after 1 2/3 innings. Santander greeted Tyler Olson with a two-run homer to center field, a curveball traveling 427 feet with a 105 mph exit velocity per Statcast.

Jonathan Villar fueled the rally in the second with a bunt single and stolen base after Stevie Wilkerson led off with a double. Villar committed a fielding error, but the Orioles otherwise were solid defensively.

The fundamental lapses are more likely to frustrate Hyde, like Santander trying to stretch a single into a double tonight while Trey Mancini stood on second base. Hyde digs as deeply as necessary to find positive elements to the season, the task made easier after an offensive explosion and second shutout.

It also can be players seizing an opportunity that might not come to them in other organizations. It can be accolades in the farm system.

The losing can get ugly - the Orioles have allowed at least 10 runs in 16 games and are barreling toward the major league record for homers allowed - but no one painted a rosy rebuild picture. Hyde knew what he was getting into while accepting the job in December.

"I'm enjoying it," he said. "It's been challenging. There's no doubt. I knew going in that this was not going to be easy. I knew what our expectations were and me and Mike (Elias) have a lot of very honest conversations, before the season and continuing through today, about how we see the organization and what our plan is and what Mike's vision is and we're really aligned in that.

"It's never easy to lose. There's no doubt about it. It's really, really challenging and you're looking for positives. And we've had some positive things happen up here. We just don't have the wins that you would like. The first couple months, I felt really good about how our team was playing. We weren't winning games, but we were in almost every game and very, very competitive. And these last couple weeks have been really, really hard, because you want to see guys play in those close games, you want to see guys come through, you want to see guys have success and it hasn't been easy.

"But I feel like our coaching staff has stuck together. I'm surrounded by great people. I really like our players. They play hard. I've had no issues. In my first year, it's going to be a memorable one for a lot of reasons, but I have had a really good time."

He won't forget this night.

A game played before an announced crowd of 21,248 included four more runs scored in the first inning to give the Orioles a 60-48 edge over opponents. Hanser Alberto plated two with a double after back-to-back walks.

The 56 runs before tonight ranked second in the American League and fourth in the majors and the 18 homers were tied for the American League lead and second in the majors. Add four more runs and another homer.

What happens after the first tends to go against the Orioles, but not tonight.

"I think it's a bunch of things," Hyde said. "I think losing is hard and it's hard on everyone. I think our guys are giving a great effort. Somehow we stayed in a lot of games early in the year and just haven't recently. I'm hoping to get back to that competitive level of play every single night where really good teams have to beat us for them to win. I feel like we beat ourselves a lot recently.

"We haven't pitched real well. The days we have pitched, we haven't scored runs. It's been like one of those one-or-the-other type of situations. And we stayed in a lot of games the first couple months against really, really good clubs, so I was really proud of that. But we just haven't played real well the last couple of weeks, so hoping to get back to the competitive baseball we played the first couple of months."

Hyde said he'd closely monitor Means' pitch count with the rookie coming off the IL today and the Indians saw 23 in the first, but they stranded two runners. Clevinger walked three batters in the bottom half and served up the 99th Eutaw Street home run and 44th by the Orioles.

Alberto usually destroys left-handers but he lined a two-run double to left field off Clevinger for a 4-0 lead. The right-hander faced eight batters and threw 36 pitches in the inning.

Means was removed after 84 pitches and the Orioles still leading 8-0. Branden Kline turned in two scoreless innings despite allowing three hits and walking a batter.

Sisco nearly had a second home run, but center fielder Oscar Mercado leaped above the fence to rob him in the fourth inning.

Rio Ruiz singled in the seventh to score Mancini and give the Orioles a 9-0 lead that already would have been their largest margin of victory in 2019. Sisco and Santander just piled on later.

Hyde on winning with ease for a change: "We have not had many of these. We were definitely due for one. I just thought we played really well. Obviously, we pitched. John Means was fantastic. Throwing 85 pitches, pretty much right at the number we had him set for, and 95 (mph) on his last pitch. He just looked really, really strong. Had a really good changeup going tonight again. The velo was up and he was outstanding."

Hyde on Sisco and Santander: "Both had huge nights, just really good at-bats. Obviously, Chance just juiced that first ball. I like the way Chance takes pitches, I like the way Chance works an at-bat. He doesn't chase. He gives you a really good at-bat. He's getting a chance to hit because of that. He doesn't expand the strike zone. He's obviously got some pull power.

"Tony uses the whole field. That was a beautiful swing, right-hander on the curveball or slider that he hit out to left-center. Another guy that's developing at the big league level right now and taking good at-bats. It's nice to see both those guys swing the bat so well."

Means on his outing: "It just felt good getting back out there and getting on the mound. It had been a while. I had only missed one start, so it was good to get back out there."

Means on how he felt: "Actually, I felt a lot better than I thought. Even after those long innings, which a pitcher will never complain about, watching the hitters score a bunch of runs, I was a little worried about the warm-up pitches, but I didn't feel it at all."

Means on whether he had to remind himself to bear down with big lead: "Yeah, you've got to remind yourself, but I stay pretty locked in the whole game. I don't really watch what's going on. I'm kind of in the zone the whole time, so I didn't really try to stray away from what I was going out there to do."

Means on how he worked with Sisco: "Really well. Chance did a great job. Obviously, he did a great job at the plate tonight. I think he had five RBIs and he was great behind the plate. We were working really well."

Means on finally winning a laugher: "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Cash (Andrew Cashner) was giving me crap last game that I was supposed to pitch and I missed. We scored nine runs and he was like, 'Oh, you could have gotten a win in that game, too.' I was glad I came back out tonight and got eight runs of support in the first (two) innings, so it was awesome."

Means on how good it feels for team to win: "It's awesome. We have a lot of fun in here. We bump the music. Winning's fun and we want to make it like that."

Sisco on his night: "I don't really know, just trying to have good at-bats, hit the ball hard and got on the board early with that first one. Definitely starts the night off on the right foot. Other than that, just trying to have good at-bats."

Sisco on getting extended look: "Good, it feels awesome. Honestly, I don't really care where I'm at. It feels good all the time. Hitting the ball hard, getting those type of results is always fun, no matter where you're at, and to do it here is special for sure."

Sisco on whether he's happy with how he caught: "Absolutely. Whenever you're throwing up zeros, you're doing something right and credit to those pitchers. John Means started us off really good with those five innings and then after that the guys kind of cleaned it up. They made it easy, to be honest."