O's don't win with Means on mound as streak continues

For the Orioles, not only has it been a while since they won, but it has been a while since they won a John Means start.

Yep, their ace was 4-0 with a 1.79 ERA, but the Orioles had not won with Means on the mound since he pitched a no-hitter May 6 at Seattle. In three starts since then, Means was 0-0 with a 2.79 ERA.

And that would not change tonight in the second game of the doubleheader at Chicago.

The White Sox hit two homers off Means and beat the Orioles 3-1 to complete a twinbill sweep. The Orioles fall to 17-35 and have lost 12 in a row, 16 of 17 and 19 of the last 21 games. They also have an 11-game road losing streak.

The Orioles had lost Means' previous three starts by 3-2 at the New York Mets, by 9-7 at home to Tampa Bay when they blew an early 5-0 lead, and by 8-3 at Minnesota. That night the Twins scored six runs in the last of the eighth off the Baltimore bullpen.

Means had to struggle but did to put up a zero in the last of the first. He came into this game averaging just 14.4 pitches per inning and just 1.5 walks for every nine innings - and then he walked two and hit one in that inning. His inning went strikeout, walk, strikeout, hit by pitch and walk. That loaded the bases with two outs. Then Means got left fielder Andrew Vaughn to fly out to short right field when he was swinging on a 3-0 pitch.

Means threw 35 pitches that inning, but it ended with a 0-0 score.

He needed and got a quick second inning on nine pitches, and threw 15 in a scoreless third where he stranded two runners.

But the zeros and his shutout ended in the last of the fourth via the bat of an unlikely source. Billy Hamilton, with no homers this year in 56 plate appearances, took Means deep with two outs and none on to provide a 1-0 lead. Hamilton hit a 2-2 fastball out to left-center a distance of 364 feet. That was his first homer since last Sept. 27.

In the White Sox fifth, they opened a 3-0 lead on a José Abreu two-run homer. He hit a 3-1 changeup for No. 11 as the lead expanded.

Of the first 16 runs Means has allowed this season, 13 have come on home runs. And of the 11 homers he has allowed, nine have been solo shots.

The Orioles got a run when Stevie Wilkerson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the O's sixth. But the Orioles stranded five runners over the fifth and sixth innings and failed to score in five at-bats against right-hander Lance Lynn.

They went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the nightcap and 0-for-9 in the doubleheader. In their last six games they are 4-for-53 with RISP.

The Orioles lost the opener 7-4 for their 11th straight loss. Freddy Galvis hit two solo homers for his fourth career multi-homer game. Right-hander Matt Harvey took the loss, allowing five runs and five hits over three innings. He is now 3-6 with a 6.84 ERA.

The Orioles have no wins in their last 13 days and just two in the last 24 days.

A loss Sunday and the losing streak would reach 13 with four straight series sweeps.