Means, Mountcastle and Mancini make opening day memories

The first Orioles game of the 2021 season put John Means back on the mound and Trey Mancini in a lineup. Rio Ruiz at a new position and Major League Baseball closer to its old, familiar self.

Take it. All of it. Whatever the final score.

Means retired the last 18 batters he faced to complete seven scoreless innings. Mancini grounded into double plays in his first two at-bats and still was the most important player in the game with his inspiring comeback from Stage 3 colon cancer. Ruiz made a pair of catches with his back to the infield appear routine, and a diving stop in the seventh to rob Alex Verdugo.

Ryan Mountcastle made his first opening day roster and doubled off the Green Monster with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning to score the first two runs. Tanner Scott walked two and struck out two in the eighth, César Valdez stranded J.D. Martinez after a two-out double and passed ball in the ninth - fire and ice - and the Orioles rode a combined two-hitter to a 3-0 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Means followed up on his four dominant starts to close out the 2020 season, holding the Red Sox to one hit, a leadoff single by Kiké Hernández in the first, and not walking a batter. He struck out five and was allowed to throw 97 pitches. The ace was dealing.

"It was pretty special," said Means, whose mind wandered back to his major league debut in this ballpark in 2018, the arm fatigue last summer that denied him the opening day assignment in Boston, the father he lost later in the year, the son who was born in December. "Just amazing to have my family there. Fenway Park holds a special place in my heart. It was a really cool experience that I'll have to tell my kids forever."

No Orioles pitcher before today had worked seven or more innings in the opener and allowed one hit or fewer. He's the first in club history to go at least seven innings with no runs and one hit or fewer at Fenway Park.

"We were somewhere in the 90-95 (pitch) range ideally, but with very little traffic, very little stress with the innings ..." said manager Brandon Hyde. "He had not been up seven times all spring, last outing was cut a little bit short, so I thought he just did an amazing job, just a clinic, pitching-wise. The way he changed speeds, gave up the leadoff single and just cruised from there. The best I've seen him pitch from having command of multiple pitches and the way he worked ahead in the count.

Per Sarah Langs (@SlangsonSports), Means' streak of allowing one run in five consecutive starts dating back to 2020 is tied for the second-longest in club history behind Jim Palmer's six in 1978.

According to research tool Stathead, the last pitcher with seven-plus innings, five-plus strikeouts, no walks and one hit or fewer on opening day was Irv Young of the Boston Beaneaters in 1906.

"I had pretty good fastball-changeup command," Means said. "I was getting ahead with the curveball and then kind of putting some guys away with the fastball-changeup. I thought the command was pretty good and I was just loose, fluid, just kind of let the game come to me today.

"I don't know what my velocity was. I felt good. It was cold out there today, but I don't really care too much about the velocity. Kind of what happened last year, I lessened up on the velo and was more about command, and I think I'm a better pitcher that way and just need the velo when it comes."

The best start of his career?

"Probably, yeah. Probably to this point," he said. "Maybe not the most dominating, but as far as just getting through, the efficiency and everything, yeah, that might be one of the best starts I've had."

Topping it is an easy formula to recite, harder to execute.

"A full season of it," he said. "Being consistent and going out there every fifth day and doing what I did. Just staying loose, staying fluid through the zone. Just staying with it. We've got a long season left, it's game No. 1 of 162, so got to keep going with it."

Said Mancini: "Playing behind Means was incredible. ... I mean, my word. And especially everything he's been through the past year, as well. It was a really special day for both of us, to be out there together, and I'm really proud of the way he performed today."

Mancini's return to baseball included a hug from Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez as he approached the batter's box for his first swings since September 2019. He grounded into a 5-4-3 double play after Cedric Mullins reached on an infield hit, but later walked and singled.

Hernández opened the bottom of the first with a single and Means picked him off, the call coming after a lengthy challenge. Means was back in the dugout after only 13 pitches.

Both leadoff batters reached in the first. No-hitter drama was fleeting.

Mancini, who had both sisters, his girlfriend and agent in the stands, bounced into a 4-6-4 double play to end the third after Pedro Severino singled. Severino reached on an infield hit in the sixth, Mancini drew a full-count walk against reliever Matt Andriese and Anthony Santander reached on Hernández's fielding error on a potential double play to load the bases with one out.

Mountcastle worked the count full and lofted a high fly ball that slammed into the Monster rather than producing the grand slam that he anticipated after making contact.

"He's a special talent," Means said. "He's got a great mentality for this game. I don't think any moment's too big for him. I think he stays within himself really, really well. You're going to be seeing this kid for a long time. He's a great player and Orioles are lucky to have him."

Ruiz ran down Rafael Devers' pop up near the right field line with an over-the-shoulder catch in the second inning. Avoided a collision with Santander, who was charging the ball, and made the play in his first game at second base.

He had a similar catch in shallow center to end the fifth on a ball that Mullins wasn't going to reach. And full extension on his diving attempt of Verdugo's grounder in the seventh produced another dazzling out, as if he broke into professional baseball on the right side of the infield.

"How about that?" Means said. "That was unbelievable. Playing second base, I don't know how many games he's played there but it can't be many. Those are two of the toughest catches you're going to see made in a season. Those are not easy, and then the diving play to go along with it. It was awesome for him today, just a great opening game."

"It didn't surprise me," Mancini said. "He played there, obviously, at the end of spring training for a couple games and he looked incredible, he looked like a second baseman to me. Those plays are obviously not easy, all three of the web gem plays that he made. And especially the diving one. I thought that was in the hole for sure, and it was incredible. He played so well out there, it was fun to be right next to him on the field and it's the first time that's ever happened."

Meanwhile, new third baseman Maikel Franco was charged with an error to begin the second inning after mishandling Xander Bogaerts' grounder. Bogarts leaned in, hugged Mancini and patted his chest.

The social distancing rules can be bent for special occasions.

"It means everything in the world to me," Mancini said. "We all play against each other 19 times a year in this division, but we all have a very high respect for each other and we wish the best for everybody playing the game. It just meant a lot to have Vázquez hug me when I went up to bat and everybody, Bogaerts, Devers. I've played against these guys for years and years, and you get to know them through that and it was really classy and really meant a lot to me.

"There are several fans that, when I was on deck before the game, all welcomed me back. There's a guy who said that his sister is battling colon cancer right now and it meant a lot for me to be back playing. Interactions like that were so cool and everybody here in Fenway was amazing today.

"This is the most special (game), no doubt about, even, I'd say, my major league debut. When you hear you're diagnosed with cancer, baseball was the last thing on my mind. Quite frankly, before I knew anything about the cancer, whenever the doctor told me, I thought I was never going to play baseball again. I made sure to soak it all in, no matter what happened today and just appreciate doing this for a living. I'm not going to ever take that for granted. The fact that I'm a year removed from the diagnosis, going through six months of chemotherapy and a lot of things ran through my mind today. Days where I couldn't get out of bed, days where I was hunched over the toilet sick. It was all worth it to be back out here, be out there with the guys. It's something that I can't describe."

Said Hyde: "He told me in the dugout he felt like it was his debut, and when he hit that (single) I said, 'Hey, you finally got a ground ball past somebody.' Just tried to keep it light, because I saw how much pressure he was putting on himself and how hard he was trying. He grounded into a couple double plays and how mad he was."

It was Mancini's turn to initiate the hugs after Means returned to the dugout for the final time.

Mancini singled in the eighth after Mullins' leadoff single against left-hander Josh Taylor, and Santander's single increased the lead to 3-0.

"It was surreal," Mancini said, "but once the game started it felt a lot like my major league debut, actually, as far as the way the day went. There's a lot of nerves, a lot of emotions that go along with the day, and once the game started it all kind of went away. I think in years past, the way I started the game, grounding into two double plays, I might have let that kind of spiral out of control, but I did a really good job today. And I told myself after going through this that, just watch whatever happened the bat before, good or bad, and I feel like I showed that today and that's something I want to carry forward with me."

"It was cool, it was really special," Means said of Mancini's return. "He's a great player a great teammate. Just seeing him back out there after everything he's been through, it's incredible and he's going to have a great season and I can't wait."

Nathan Eovaldi faced the Orioles three times last summer and allowed two runs in 19 innings. He shut them out today over 5 1/3 innings, with four hits and four strikeouts, and was removed at 89 pitches.

That's when the game turned. When a scoreless duel morphed into an Orioles' lead. When normal in 2021 included an opening day win.

"We had a lot of cool things today," Hyde said."César Valdez has been in the big leagues up and down since 2010, this was his first time ever to break with a club. I think he's been in professional baseball since 2005 and 16, 17 years later the guy makes an opening day roster and gets the save. Mancini, fantastic. I'm sure he was nervous and had a ton of butterflies and César Valdez getting the save, it was really cool.

"Opening day is always a little bit heavy. There's a lot more that goes into the first game of the year just from a pregame standpoint. You're nervous, you have butterflies. I know it's only one of 162, but it's definitely a different feeling. It's almost a playoff-style feeling before the game where you're nervous and you're anxious and you want to see what your team is going to look like. But then you add in all the other things that we had with a guy coming back from cancer, John Means not being able to make an opening day start last year and with what he went through last year, pitching the way he did. And like I said, Valdez. We had a guy who hadn't played second base in his career playing second base and making multiple plus-plus plays defensively. I just thought we played good baseball."