O's game blog: John Means faces Toronto

The Orioles return to Buffalo's Sahlen Field tonight for the next-to-last game of the 2020 season. It's the second of their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Orioles 10-5 last night.

Toronto led that game 10-0 in the fifth inning and losing pitcher Jorge López allowed eight runs in two-plus innings. The Orioles scored the game's final five runs. Ramón Urías, Cedric Mullins and José Iglesias all hit solo homers. The O's have hit three homers in a game 11 times in 2020, and hit four homers three times.

The Orioles (24-34) have lost three of four, seven of nine and 13 of the last 17 games since they were 20-21 on Sept. 8. They are 11-14 in road games and 13-25 against the American League. They are 1-3 on this trip with losses by five, eight and five runs. The Orioles went 3-3 in July and 12-16 in August, and are 9-15 this month.

Playoff-bound Toronto (31-27) will be either the fifth or eighth seed in the American League playoffs, which begin Tuesday. Toronto, which has won five of its last six games, is 16-8 at home and 21-17 versus AL East foes.

Lefty John Means (2-3, 5.02 ERA) has been on a roll on the mound and will try to keep it going as he makes his 10th and last start of the season tonight. Means has allowed one run exactly in each of his past three starts, going 2-0 with a 1.53 ERA and .175 batting average against. He has lowered an ERA that was 8.10 to 5.02. In those starts he has given up 11 hits and three runs in 17 2/3 innings with two walks and 21 strikeouts.

On Sunday at Oriole Park against Tampa Bay, Means allowed three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings. He fanned 12 with no walks. That was a career-best strikeout mark for Means and three off a club record. It was also five more strikeouts than he'd ever had in a game. He fanned seven in a row at one point to tie Sammy Stewart's club record. He got 16 misses on 36 swings against his fastball. The 44 percent whiff rate on that pitch was a career best.

The Orioles are 2-7 in Means' outings this year but 2-1 in his last three games. He faced Toronto on Aug. 28 in Buffalo and gave up two runs over four innings in a no-decision.

Right-hander Matt Shoemaker (0-1, 4.71 ERA) was originally listed to start this game. But apparently with Toronto's first-round playoff opponent not set, the Blue Jays are holding him back to keep all options open for next week.

So right-hander T.J. Zeuch (1-0, 2.84 ERA) will get the start for the Blue Jays. He was their first-round pick in 2016, taken No. 21 overall, and was signed to a bonus of $2.175 million. In two games he has thrown 6 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and two runs.

He last pitched in relief versus the Yankees on Monday. In 3 1/3 innings he gave up one hit and one run on 49 pitches. Per Fangraphs.com, he has thrown his fastball 56 percent of the time at a velocity of 92.1 mph. He uses his cutter 23 percent and slider 14 percent. Zeuch was ranked as the club's No. 24 prospect last year by Baseball America.

A few O's hitting notes:

* Austin Hays was hitless last night. But over his past seven games he is 12-for-29 (.414) with three homers. In his last 12 games since returning from the injured list he is batting .356 (16-for-45).

* Hanser Alberto is 7-for-16 (.438) during a four-game hitting streak with four RBIs. Alberto has two doubles his last two games after producing two just in his previous 30 games.

* Iglesias has homered in back-to-back games. He is batting .478 (11-for-23) his past eight games with two doubles, three homers and eight RBIs.

* DJ Stewart is 3-for-31 (.097) over his past 10 games.

* Urías is batting .381 (8-for-21) since joining the team. Over his past four games he is 7-for-16 (.438) with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs.

* Pat Valaika is 6-for-9 (.667) with a homer his past two games. In his previous 12 games he was 4-for-29 (.138). But for the month of September overall, he is batting .323/.344/.516 with three homers, seven RBIs and an .860 OPS.