John Means makes a rotation case as O's beat White Sox

He was probably just trying to pitch his team to a series win tonight. But in doing so, left-hander John Means stated his case to stay in the Orioles' rotation.

Means once again looked good and featured a swing and miss changeup. He threw five strong innings as the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 at Oriole Park.

After losing big on Monday night, the Birds take the last two games to win the series. They are now 2-0 in rubber match games, 10-16 for the year and 3-10 at home. They've won back-to-back home games after a seven-game losing streak at Camden Yards.

Making his third career major league start, Means gave up two hits but no runs in a 25-pitch first inning. He established the changeup from the outset, fanning Tim Anderson, a .395 hitter, on that pitch for his first out of the night.

The only blemish on his record came with two outs and no one on in the Sox third. Anderson singled to left and scored on José Abreu's double to right. That cut an O's lead to 3-1. But Abreu was stranded when James McCann struck out. Yep, on a changeup.

That first inning had Means' pitch count up from the outset tonight and he went on to allow four hits and the one run over five frames. He walked one and fanned a career-high six batters. He threw 92 pitches, 56 for strikes and improved to 3-2 with an ERA of 1.74. His ERA is 2.08 in his three starts.

According to baseballsavant.com, Means threw 51 four-seam fastballs that averaged 92 mph and topped at 94.7. He threw 27 changeups at an average velocity of 80 mph. He got swings and misses on nine of those changeups and five of his six strikeouts came via that pitch.

He was solid again and the Orioles need to find a way to keep Means in the rotation.

Paul Fry got four big outs in this game. After Evan Phillips got into trouble in the sixth, he got pinch-hitter Nicky Delmonico to ground out with the bases loaded and the O's leading 4-2. An inning later, the White Sox had first and third against him with two outs and he got Yoán Moncada to ground out. You can't get a save in the sixth or seventh, but those were key outs by Fry.

Mychal Givens got a six-out save. He allowed a run in the last of the ninth, but got the final out to preserve the win for Means and the Orioles.

The O's backed their pitchers with a two-out rally in the first. Doubles by Dwight Smith Jr. and Renato Núñez and a single by Rio Ruiz produced a 2-0 lead. Núñez has 13 RBIs his last 15 games. Joey Rickard tripled in the second and scored on Hanser Alberto's sac fly. In the fourth, Stevie Wilkerson's first major league homer made it 4-1. Wilkerson drove a 2-2 slider from starter and loser Ervin Santana 423 feet with an exit velocity of 104 mph.

So after losing the first four games of this homestand, the Orioles win the last two. They have their first two-game win streak since a 4-1 start. A six-game road trip begins Friday night at Minnesota.