John Means will stay in rotation for Orioles (game update)

MINNEAPOLIS - The Orioles have seen enough of left-hander John Means to want to keep him in the starting rotation. And manager Brandon Hyde said today they will do just that.

Means, who is 3-2 with a 1.74 ERA over seven games and three starts, will get a start in the series with the Chicago White Sox that begins Monday night. Hyde said David Hess will go to the bullpen for now. Monday would be Hess' next scheduled turn, so Means could get the ball in the series opener. He just threw five innings on Wednesday at Camden Yards versus the White Sox, allowing one run, and would be on regular rest Monday.

"David Hess is going to be available out of the bullpen tonight," Hyde said. "And we are still playing with some things about the next two series. For David, it's about almost similar to what we've been saying about John, almost five months to go in the season. He's going to make plenty of starts. I look at him at being in the rotation, but tonight being in the bullpen.

"David will have a ton of innings this year and it's still really, really early. But we have a good problem. We have six starters and a couple off-days coming up. Then we have a long stretch of playing 20 in a row (starting May 10) where we can map out some things."

Hess is 1-4 with a 5.88 ERA over six games, five starts. Since he threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings on April 1 at Toronto, Hess has allowed 17 runs and eight homers over 17 2/3 innings in his past four starts.

"We think really highly of David," said Hyde. "The one appearance out of the bullpen in New York, he was really good and his stuff was really sharp. The stuff ticked up a little bit. So we're going to have him in the bullpen as of now. And then that will probably change, like a lot of things, over the course of the season."

Hess pitched in relief and threw two scoreless innings on March 28, which was opening day at Yankee Stadium. He fanned two and walked two, throwing 42 pitches. His average velocity in that game was a season-high 94.4 mph.

"I want to give these guys opportunities," Hyde added. "Allow them to go the third time through the order and make mistakes. It is something they have to figure out being a big league pitcher. We know there will be bumps along the way. We will be careful with them, but also I want them to face big league pitching. We'll play with our rotation all year long and I don't think anything will be set in stone for a while. When you put a guy that can throw a good slider and changeup and in the mid-90s in our 'pen, it improves our bullpen. It's probably short term, but in the meantime, we will go this way.

"We are going to be creative with how we set our rotation because of the off-days. But certain starters, I don't want to have too long a layoff, to be honest with you. Want to keep them somewhat on regular rest and their routines. So we are still playing with it a little bit, but John is going to stay in the rotation for now."

Hyde said the Orioles still could use a six-man rotation at some point and maybe over the next couple of weeks.

"I think six is an option. We have a couple off-days and once we get through that, we have that long stretch of games in a row. It is something we might consider at that point," he said.

Tonight, the Orioles get a rematch with a Twins team that swept them in Baltimore last weekend. Over three games, Minnesota scored 26 runs on 37 hits with 11 home runs. The Twins have won nine in a row against the Orioles, a streak that dates to opening day 2018 when the Orioles won via an Adam Jones walk-off homer in the 11th inning at Oriole Park.

"Big challenge for us. They swung the bats so well against us. Big challenge for our pitchers," Hyde said. "These guys are aggressive and they have a bunch of veteran hitters over there that know what they are doing. We just have to limit damage and stay out of the middle of the plate. We made a ton of mistakes and they hit a lot of homers against us. We are looking to correct that, but this is a playoff-caliber team."

Chris Davis has rejoined the Orioles today and was in the clubhouse at Target Field. He missed Wednesday's game due to personal reasons. The Twins are starting left-hander Martín Pérez and Davis is 3-for-19 with 10 strikeouts lifetime against him.

Bowie note: The Double-A Bowie Baysox have put outfielder Yusniel Diaz on the seven-day injured list. The Orioles' No. 1 ranked prospect is batting .225/,313/.338 in 20 games with three doubles, a triple, a homer and seven RBIs.

Early homer barrage by Twins: The Twins are still hitting homers off O's pitching. They hit 11 last weekend and three in the first inning tonight. They went back-to-back-to-back by Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron off right-hander Alex Cobb. It's the first time the Twins hit three in a row since June 26, 2016 at Yankee Stadium, and they lead 3-0 in the second.

They add one: Center fielder Joey Rickard could not catch a fly ball to center off the bat of Marwin Gonzalez in the third. It went for an E8 with a run scoring for a 4-0 lead.

And another: Max Kepler's 438-foot homer to right off Cobb in the fourth made it a 5-0 lead. Cobb has allowed a career-high four home runs.

Dwight Smith Jr.'s RBI single to right in the sixth got the Orioles on the board and made it a 6-1 game on his 19th RBI.