Reaching for the record book as the O's beat Tampa Bay

It was a game that had some of us - OK, me - checking the record book on several occasions. At various times Sunday I wondered about the O's record for consecutive strikeouts, about the record for strikeouts by a pitcher in one game and the team record for strikeouts in one game.

On Wednesday night, lefty Keegan Akin fanned six straight Atlanta Braves. It was on that night we were reminded the team record for consecutive strikeouts was seven. That was done by Sammy Stewart on Sept. 1, 1978 in his major league debut against the White Sox. Yesterday, John Means tied that record. He got seven in a row.

Means was rolling and fanned 10 Tampa Bay Rays in the first four innings. I checked to see the record for strikeouts in a game by an Oriole. It was 15, done twice by Mike Mussina and once by Erik Bedard. Means fell short with 12, but his total was easily a career best for him and the most by any Oriole since Dylan Bundy fanned 14 on May 24, 2018 against the White Sox.

When Hunter Harvey fanned the last batter of the seventh and first of the eighth, the Orioles were at 16 strikeouts. So what was the team record? For a nine-inning game it was 17 strikeouts. The O's had five chances to tie or set a new mark, but the last five outs were recorded without a strikeout. So the O's fell one short.

The two times the Orioles fanned 17 in a nine-inning game were Sept. 18, 1968 at Boston and July 5, 1997 at Detroit.

When I remembered last night that the O's fanned 16 yesterday without a walk, I felt surely that must be the most strikeouts in a game by the club without walking a batter. And that is true. But it had happened once before. On Aug. 23, 2015, the O's fanned 16 Minnesota Twins without issuing a walk. They matched that feat Sunday.

Yesterday was the 20th time in club history that the Orioles struck out 16 or more batters. And 13 of the previous 19 games went extra innings. The club regular-season record is 21 strikeouts, which happened in a 19-inning game versus the Washington Senators on June 4, 1967.

Meanwhile, it might be hard to remember that not long ago Means had an 8.10 ERA. But he did after his outing of Sept. 2 against the Mets. In the three games since, he has allowed one run each time. In those games his ERA is 1.53 and he has fanned 21 with just two walks in 17 2/3 innings.

Yesterday he posted a whiff rate of 44 percent on his fastball. He got 36 swings at the pitch and Rays batters whiffed 16 times. His CSW number was 40 percent, a career best. That is called strikes plus whiffs. Means was rolling, and if there had been any concern about him earlier, surely it must be gone now.

Means had a strikeout rate of 5.9 per nine innings as he took the mound yesterday. His K rate for the day was 19.1. He's back and in a big way.

The O's rotation is on a bit of a roll as the season's days dwindle. Means is not alone in pitching very well.

The rotation pitchers recently:

* In his three starts, Dean Kremer is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA.
* In his four starts, Keegan Akin is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA.
* In his past two starts, Jorge López has a 2.77 ERA. In five starts with the O's he is 2-1 with a 3.95 ERA.
* In his last start, Alex Cobb allowed two runs over six innings. That was a better outing after a struggling four-start stretch. That followed his season-opening four-start stretch, in which his ERA was 2.75.

The team rotation ERA and American League rank the last few seasons:

2017: 5.70 (15th in AL)
2018: 5.48 (15th in AL)
2019: 5.57 (14th in AL)
2020: 4.75 (8th in AL)

The O's just completed a homestand in which they allowed just seven runs in three games against an Atlanta team that was leading the majors in scoring and OPS at the start of that series. They allowed 19 runs in five games against Tampa Bay. The Rays began Sunday's game fourth in the AL in runs, first in extra-base hits and second in the league in doubles.

During that homestand the O's went 3-5, but it wasn't because of the pitching. The team ERA in the eight games was 3.36 and the club allowed three runs or fewer in six of those games.

A few more runs would have led to a few more wins. But seeing this pitching come together must be exciting for O's fans, who have seen their pitchers rank near the bottom of the league in recent seasons.

And by the way, the O's bullpen did not allow a run in the last three games against the Rays. They combined for 9 1/3 scoreless with 12 strikeouts.

O's fans should not expect a record watch each night in the season's final week. But seeing more solid pitching would be very welcome and a real boost as they think ahead to the 2021 season.

12 strikeouts, including seven in a row 👏

A new career high for @JMeans25! pic.twitter.com/o6B0SGdSPz

-- Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) September 20, 2020