Severino slam and sensational Means start highlight win (updated)

Hanser Alberto wanted to hit 10 home runs this season. Told the media that he set the total as a goal.

Jonathan Villar is trying to become the sixth Orioles player to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in the same season. He's made no secret of his desire to do it.

Pedro Severino just wanted a second chance tonight with the bases loaded.

Some goals are more modest than others.

Alberto produced his 10th with two outs in the fourth inning and Villar followed with his 19th, leaving him one away from 20-20 status, but Severino beat them to the big punch in a 7-1 victory over the Rays before an announced crowd of 11,409 at Camden Yards.

Severino grounded into a double play to end the first inning while batting with the bases loaded. They were full again in the third when he stroked his first career grand slam for a 5-0 lead.

There's nothing quite like redeeming yourself and also rounding the bases.

John Means allowed one run and tied his career high with seven strikeouts in seven innings and the Orioles improved to 42-88 overall and 21-46 at home. They're 1-0 this year on "School of Roch Night," which was celebrated on the scoreboard and on MASN.

Rays opener José Alvarado threw only nine of 24 pitches for strikes and retired one batter. He allowed a single to Villar, walked three and unleashed two wild pitches. But the Orioles managed only one run, with reliever Austin Pruitt coaxing a ground ball from Severino.

Pruitt gave up a leadoff single to Alberto in the third and struck out the next two batters. Renato Núñez singled, DJ Stewart walked and Severino delivered his slam.

He also celebrated it.

Severino walked up the line, bat raised, and flipped it before turning his attention to the dugout. The Orioles have three slams this year. Severino cherished his own.

The inning also included Núñez's first career steal, which turned out to be unnecessary. But if he set it as a goal, it's another one to be crossed off the list.

Villar has 28 steals and needs one more homer to join Manny Machado, Brady Anderson (three times), Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor and Paul Blair in the prestigious home run/stolen base club.

He has 20-20 vision.

Means blanked the Rays until Michael Brosseau homered off him with two outs in the fifth. Three of Brosseau's six home runs this season have come against Means.

The last four starts have ended with losses for Means, but he exceeded six innings tonight for the first time since July 3 and allowed only one run for the first time since June 11.

Means allowed five hits and walked none. He finished at 100 pitches, 70 for strikes.

The Means panic button has been wiped clean. No more fingerprints.

Hunter Harvey worked a scoreless eighth inning, allowing a two-out double to Austin Meadows. He got a called third strike on Matt Duffy with a 98 mph fastball, retired Tommy Pham on a fly ball after running the count full and pumping another 99 mph heater, and retired Avisaíl Garcia on a tapper to the mound.

The game began with Alberto drawing his 13th walk in 427 plate appearances. A strong indicator that the night would be special. And that Alvarado wasn't going to enjoy it.

Hyde on Severino wanting another chance: "Obviously, he was disappointed in grounding into a double play when they brought in Pruitt to face him in the first inning. But what a great swing on that ball. It was just so short. He had a similar swing a few days ago with a double into right-center. We've been talking about it. And he had a good swing on the 0-0 slider that he fouled back and then a really short swing on a fastball that he stays behind and backspins into left-center. So obviously, that felt good."

Hyde on Means: "I just thought he had everything working. Really made just one bad pitch, hanging a breaking ball to a hot hitter with a quick bat and with two strikes. But besides that I just thought he had all his pitches working. I loved the breaking balls tonight besides that one. I thought he kept them off balance with a really good changeup again and located his fastball. Really cruised through seven innings. Did a great job."

Hyde on Alberto and Villar top of lineup with Mancini out of it: "With the opener and assuming he's throwing Pruitt behind him it makes putting together a lineup challenging. It's going to be similar tomorrow. But I wanted Alberto to face Alvarado once and felt good if they brought in Pruitt there, so led him off. Jonathan is swinging the bat well, so you want him to get as many at-bats as possible."

Means on whether his best start of second half: "Definitely in the second half. I felt like I was attacking hitters again. I think some of that comes from figuring out what I was doing wrong with my mechanics and feeling comfortable again to just go at guys, and that's kind of what I did in the first half and I felt like I was doing it again."

Means on working with big lead: "It's great. Sevie's grand slam, you can't get anything better than that. You go out there with just the comfort of pounding the zone and going after guys."

Means on pitch efficiency: "It's just one of those things, I think lately I've just been getting behind guys and having to throw all these pitches and try to pinpoint location, and I felt like I can just go after guys, attack with all my pitches. Kind of whatever I wanted."

Means on handing over lead to Harvey and Givens: "Yeah, that was actually what Broc (Doug Brocail) said. 'You go seven strong and we've got Hunter and Givens to back you up.' So I was definitely pretty happy that I could just hand the ball off to Hunter."

Means on if he was building toward this start with side work: "For sure, especially after the last one. The first five innings felt really good and then the sixth inning kind of fell apart. I knew exactly what I was doing wrong. It's just kind of that in-between work that I needed, and me and Broc really did a lot before this start, especially out of my stretch, and I felt a lot more comfortable tonight."

Severino on wanting to bat with bases loaded again: "When I was on deck, I was just thinking when he got a 2-2 count, I say, if he walks (Stewart) it's bases loaded again and I have to do a better job. I got a situation, I put it in my mind to concentrate and hit the pitch high in the zone and I executed."

Severino on how it felt: "I feel great because I helped the team. I got the one pitch up in the zone and I got a great swing on it."

Severino on August struggles: "I'm just pulling a lot of ground balls to shortstop and third base. I'm just trying, they're playing me in the shift, I'm trying to hit middle away, especially with that team. I want to hit the ball to second base because they're in the shift.

"Today it was a different situation. I had to put a better swing on the ball and just help the team."

Severino on Means: "Means did a great job. ... Sometimes he does a great job and we're losing. He does a great job and we're winning like today. Today he just executed every pitch. We were on the same page all night. He did great. He made great adjustments. He threw low in the zone. That's the recipe right there."