O's game blog: John Means gets the start versus Indians

CLEVELAND - The Orioles had a much more enjoyable Friday night here. After losing 14-7 on Thursday, they won 5-1 last night behind right-hander Dylan Bundy, who allowed one unearned run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings.

Bundy, who threw 118 pitches, improved to 2-5 for the year with an ERA of 4.66 that is second-best among the club's starters. Bundy, who has not allowed an earned run in two of his past three starts, has an ERA of 2.79 over his last five outings.

Jonathan Villar hit a three-run homer last night in the third to provide a 3-1 lead. Stevie Wilkerson drove in the other two runs with a homer in the fourth and double in the eighth. He is 4-for-8 in this series with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs.

The Orioles (15-29) are 1-3 on this road trip and 9-14 away from Oriole Park for the season. They are 9-2 when scoring three runs or fewer, 5-9 in May and 4-10 against American League Central teams.

Cleveland (23-20) is 1-1 on an 11-game homestand. Overall, the Tribe has lost four of seven and seven of 12 games. Cleveland is 10-10 over its past 20 games, 12-8 at home and 5-1 versus AL East teams.

Today, left-hander John Means (5-3, 2.33 ERA) will make his 11th appearance and seventh start for the Orioles. Means has allowed exactly one earned run in five of his previous six starts. Over his past two games against the Red Sox and Angels, he went a combined 13 innings allowing seven hits and two runs. He threw 96 and 110 pitches in those games.

The Orioles are 3-3 in Means' starts and he has two quality starts. Opposing lineups are batting .224 against him the first time through the order, .267 the second time and .100 the third time. Lefty batters have hit just .107 with an OPS of .417 versus Means. Righty batters are hitting .237/.691. Means has allowed only an average of .125 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

Today, he pitches opposite 27-year-old right-hander Adam Plutko, who is making his big league season debut today. Earlier, he spent time on the minor league injured list with a right forearm strain. In two starts since returning at Triple-A Columbus, he went 0-2 with an ERA of 10.13.

His last big league start was last Sept. 23, and in six stints in 2018, he went 4-5 with a 5.28 ERA. His only career game against the Orioles was Aug. 18, 2018 when he took a loss despite allowing just three runs over seven innings.

Wilkerson leads the club in batting in May at .333. Outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. is one of 15 AL players to have at least 40 hits, 25 RBIs and 20 runs scored. Villar has seven extra-base hits in the first inning and that is tied for third-most in the majors. Trey Mancini is hitting .354 on the road and .271 at home. Renato Núñez is on a 6-for-65 skid (.092) and batting .102 (5-for-49) in May.