Wrapping up Means' start, defense, cuts and 13-1 loss

Orioles left-hander John Means made it through the first inning today. Manager Brandon Hyde stayed in the dugout. There were no surprises or unexpected visits.

The rest of his day can be categorized as getting in his work in spring training.

Means was on the verge of watching the second inning roll over, with the Pirates scoring three runs and extending him to 27 pitches in the Orioles' 13-1 loss in Bradenton. He came out at 48 pitches after issuing a leadoff walk in the third.

Hyde removed Means from Tuesday's game with two outs in the first, a rising pitch count sounding a silent alarm. Means didn't hear it. But he understood after being told about a new rule that enabled him to re-enter the game in the second.

The Yankees scored one run and collected four singles against Means in 1 2/3 innings. He threw 14 pitches in the first inning today, stranding a runner, but a single, hit batter and wild pitch in the second gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.

Jared Oliva followed with an RBI single and Adam Frazier a run-scoring double. Means threw 27 pitches, the last inducing a ground ball to short. Heavy usage of the changeup, getting some swings and misses and leaving some up in the zone.

The failure to turn a double play before the wild pitch pushed Means into troubled territory.

"I thought John had good stuff," manager Brandon Hyde said in his Zoom call. "He had a tough time finishing guys today. Just maybe a little tick off. I think the positive is he got out there for a third time, got three ups, got his pitch count up to 45-ish, so he's on track there.

"He flashed some good changeups, couple bad ones, but the fastball looked good and he got up three times, so it's a positive from that standpoint."

Evan Phillips replaced Means and walked Phillip Evans. Heads almost exploded.

Kevin Newman delivered a two-run double off Phillips, with a fourth run charged to Means, whose spring ERA rose to 12.27. The inning was rolled.

"I felt like command was there early in the counts and I just wasn't putting people away," Means said on his Zoom call. "Just taking some long at-bats getting two strikes, but not putting them away. That's really it.

"I'm healthy. I feel like my pitches are breaking well, just not executing them as well as I'd like, especially with two strikes. That's the name of the game. You can get two strikes all you want, but you've got to get them out. I like where I'm at, I like where my pitches are. It's just executing is the last step."

The defense was unreliable again today. Infield hits that could have been outs. Catcher Chance Sisco bounced a throw to third on a double steal with the lead runner far from the bag. Shortstop Ramón Urías committed two errors, the second coming in the fourth inning when the Pirates scored five runs off left-hander Fernando Abad for a 10-0 lead.

Dustin Fowler ripped a three-run double to right field with two outs and the Pirates sent nine men to the plate.

"We've got to start playing better defense," Hyde said. "Our work on the back fields in the mornings is great. It's been fantastic, actually, as good as I've seen it, from the standpoint of the work they're getting in. We're just not translating it into the games. We need to play better defense overall and help our pitchers out a little bit more.

"On the mound, we've got to start throwing more strikes and start getting some earlier contact and not having the long innings. So it's a little bit of a combination of we've got to get better at throwing strikes and we've got to catch the ball better."

Shawn Armstrong, Travis Lakins Sr. and Eric Hanhold each retired the side in order in their respective innings, but Dillon Tate allowed three runs and four hits with a walk, hit batter and wild pitch in the seventh. He also struck out two.

"Obviously, he had some struggles," Hyde said. "Faced a lot of left-handers. Just thought the two-seamer was kind of leaking in the middle, not great command today. D-Tate's been throwing the ball well, too. I just thought it was an off day for him, kind of struggled through that inning. He punched a guy out on a good changeup and then the changeup was inconsistent after that. Fastball command wasn't his best. Not his best outing today."

Yusniel Diaz followed his two-run double last night with a single in the second inning and was erased on Urías' double play grounder.

Asked via interpreter Ramón Alarcón how close he is to being a major leaguer, Diaz said, "I'm going to leave that decision up to God. In reality, I really feel pretty close to being in the big leagues, so hopefully soon."

Diaz said he wants to highlight "all aspects of my game" and he wants to showcase his many tools.

The Orioles (2-5-1) loaded the bases with one out in the third, including Cedric Mullins' single, but Pedro Severino grounded into a double play.

Mullins singled twice, driving in a run in the fifth, and is 6-for-15 this spring with a double, triple and three RBIs.

The first round of cuts was made today, with the Orioles reassigning catcher Brett Cumberland, infielder Mason McCoy, right-hander Marcos Diplán and left-handers Josh Rogers and Zach Muckenhirn to Twin Lakes camp.

The Orioles are off Monday and Dean Kremer starts Tuesday against the Twins in Fort Myers.

"We have a long way to go," Hyde said. "It is a spring training game, but we need to start playing better."