A few O's notes as they await the Toronto weekend series

A few thoughts and notes on the Orioles, who were shut out 6-0 by Kansas City last night. The Orioles were held to three singles as they fell to 45-94 and now await a series with the Toronto Blue Jays that begins tonight at Oriole Park.

No runs, no win: A night after their nine-run last of the eighth inning and comeback win, the Baltimore offense was quiet. They got three straight singles with two outs in the last of the second. They got no other hits before that brief rally and none after. And catcher Pedro Severino was thrown out at the plate to end that inning.

The O's offense, in being shut out for the ninth time in 2021, went 3-for-29. So, 0-for-26, save for that second-inning rally, and 0-for-21 from the third inning on.

He meant business: O's lefty John Means was good again. There was at least a small amount of concern about Means when in the middle of August he gave up 10 earned runs and five homers over 8 1/3 innings in back-to-back starts against Detroit and Tampa Bay. But now Means has thrown four good outings since then with three quality starts and a 3.33 ERA in that span.

Last night he allowed five hits and two runs in seven-plus innings on 89 pitches. The second run charged to his record scored after he left the game. Means recorded his 11th quality start to tie his career high, set in 2019. The Orioles have 28 quality starts for the year, so Means has 39 percent of them.

Means has leaned often on his curveball his last two starts. He threw it a season-high 24 percent of the time in his previous start, and topped that Thursday, throwing it 28 percent of the time. He got four of his five strikeouts on that pitch, marking a single-game career high for him in strikeouts with that pitch.

"My changeup's kind of sucked lately, to be honest," Means said. "So, the curveball was the pitch. It's been the pitch that's been more consistent. Hopefully, we can get everything working here soon."

Had that second run not scored and been charged to Means, he would have produced the third outing for an O's starter in the last 34 games of six innings or more while allowing one run or none. Keegan Akin did that Aug. 26 versus the Los Angeles Angels, and Zac Lowther did it on Monday against Kansas City.

It has more to do with other things than his pitching, but the Orioles have lost the last seven games started by Means.

He walked, twice!: Talking about former Oriole Hanser Alberto. At game time last night he had two walks all this year in 220 plate appearances. Then he walked twice against Means, a pitcher more likely to give up a homer than a walk. Means has a 1.6 walk rate per nine innings and allows 1.8 homers per nine.

But last night he walked Alberto on six pitches in the second inning and on seven pitches in the fifth. This is the first time in 373 career games that Alberto walked twice. The Orioles sure know about Alberto as a free-swinging hitter who seldom gets deep into counts. He walked just 21 times in 781 plate appearances as an Oriole.

The Blue Jays charge into Baltimore: The Toronto Blue Jays storm into Baltimore tonight for a four-game, three-day series that includes Saturday's doubleheader. They are 77-62, just swept the Yankees and have won eight in a row.

Toronto, now 11-1 its last 12 games, completed its first four-game sweep in the Bronx since 2003. This was the first time a visiting team swept the Yankees in a series of four or more games at Yankee Stadium, the old or new one, without trailing in a game, according to STATS. That stretches back to 1923.

In the American League wild card race, Boston holds the No. 1 spot, but by just a game over New York, with Toronto only 1 1/2 back of the Red Sox. Three AL East teams are playing for two spots if they can hold off Oakland and Seattle, also in wild card contention.

Grayson Rodriguez pulled early: Baseball's best pitching prospect, Double-A Bowie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, was rolling last night at Harrisburg. He got the first nine batters out in order, struck out five and his pitch count was at just 34.

And then they took him out of the game.

There was no injury or reason to be concerned at all. It was simply a pre-determined move that Rodriguez was not going to throw deep in the game last night. He reached 98 innings for the year with this outing, and he will probably finish between 100 and 110 with likely just one more regular season start to go. He could also make a playoff start if Bowie makes it.

Rodriguez has had an outstanding season, going 9-1 with a 2.39 ERA in 22 starts between high Single-A Aberdeen and Bowie. His 98 innings actually lead all O's farm pitchers. So he's had a good season and a full one, and the Orioles are delighted that he's been able to pitch through all of it.

Bowie got solo homers last night from Jordan Westburg (No. 3), Zach Watson (No. 10), Patrick Dorrian (No. 19) and Andrew Daschbach (No. 6) in a 5-3 win to improve to 65-45. With 10 games left in the regular season, Bowie trails Somerset by 1/2 game for a playoff berth.