The decision to pull Hess, Mancini's fast start, Means' changeup

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

April 01, 2019, 9:51pm

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TORONTO - Hey everybody, the Orioles won a game at Rogers Centre. That also got lost in the shuffle last night after right-hander David Hess was pulled after 6 1/3 innings while throwing a no-hitter. But after going 0-10 at Toronto last year and being outscored 63-28 in the building, the Orioles won last night 6-5.

Hess threw 48 four-seam fastballs that averaged 93.8 mph and topped at 95.8. He added 20 sliders among his 82 pitches in allowing just one runner on a walk while fanning a career-best eight.

In 8 1/3 scoreless on the year, Hess has walked three, fanned 10, allowed an .040 batting average and 0.48 WHIP. This after he ended the 2018 season pitching to a 3.24 ERA over his last nine starts.

But something that a lot of us overlooked last night - I know I sure did - was that Hess was pitching on three days' rest. He threw 42 pitches in two innings of relief opening day on Thursday at New York. That was a big factor that kept manager Brandon Hyde from letting Hess go deeper into the game last night.

"With him pitching opening day, two innings and pitching on short rest, we had a pitch count for him that we extended," Hyde said. "For David to go beyond that, and obviously then some, was incredible. But that was a terrible walk (to the mound). I hated to do it, but for David's health and one of, hopefully, 30-plus starts, it was the right thing to do."

In this entry filed last night Hess talked about the respect he had for Hyde for making a tough call with his best interest in mind. But in that very moment, when Hyde was walking out and Hess knew he was probably coming out of the game, the move jarred him initially.

"I was shocked because I knew my pitch count was decently low," Hess said. "And so really, just kind of trying to figure out more what was going on. When he came out, it was him basically saying throwing 40 pitches the other day and trying to keep health the primary thing. Knowing that it's a long season. I could tell that he was fighting against himself a little bit. I think the excitement was there. But a lot of respect towards him. Just having that mindset and thought process, that means a lot to me."

Trey Mancini added: "That was incredible. That was easily the most pleasant game of outfield I've ever played out there. He looked unhittable. I was really happy for him, and proud of him the way he performed out there tonight."

Meanwhile, Mancini stayed hot at bat: Mancini's hot start continued last night as he went 2-for-3 with a sac fly and solo homer. He is batting .500 at 8-for-16, with three multi-hit games and an OPS of 1.408. He's homered in back-to-back games.

Deep breaths, Mancini said, have led to some deep drives.

"I'm feeling really relaxed up there. Having a plan is probably the biggest thing. Sometimes I can get in the habit of trying to cover every pitch and the whole strike zone, and you can't do that up here. Pick certain pitches and parts of the plate and I'm going after them.

"Been focusing on my breathing, too, up there, and relaxing. Just honestly taking a really deep breath before you go up to bat and it does relax me. I know it sounds dumb, but it works for me - I at least think it helps and will keep doing it," he said.

The changeup that dazzled the Yankees hitters: O's lefty John Means said he's usually a fastball/slider guy, but when he started pitching Sunday versus the Yankees, his changeup was really on, so he kept throwing the pitch.

It worked.

Means allowed one run over 3 1/3 innings and got his first major league win. For this story during spring training, Means told me about his winter work to increase his velocity. He did average 91.8 mph Sunday and topped at 93.4, according to Statcast.

But he got swings and misses on nine of his first 15 changeups in that outing and in 12 of 35 overall. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton twice and Aaron Judge once.

"Honestly, I credit Chris Holt, our minor league pitching coordinator," Means said before Monday's series opener. "He's the changeup guru. He was working with me on that pitch in spring training and it was nice to see it like that in a game.

"Being a starter, I have to have every pitching working. If one pitch isn't working, another one better be. I didn't really have my best fastball location, so the changeup was keeping guys off balance. I was able to make it look like my fastball, and it had some dive on it Sunday that made it a strikeout pitch in that game."

Means may be one pitcher who truly benefitted from the new coaches and the so-called fresh eyes on him this spring. It seems the current staff has given him more of a chance then he previously had gotten.

"I think that can happen with a new staff. You get a clean slate. With the old crew I'm sure I made some mistakes in the minor leagues. I made a stop at every place and had good years, not great years. But to come to spring and make a good first impression really helps with a new staff," he said.

Attitude can be big: Hyde and his coaches have clearly helped some of the Orioles' young players believe in themselves. And confidence can be huge for a young player.

"Big time," Hyde said. "That's the next level. Once you get here, it's believing you belong here. This is so hard, and (New York) was a tough place to play. Lot of pressure. So belief and confidence that you have in yourself is so important. Our job as coaches is to instill belief in them. Want them to believe they belong and be confident and have some arrogance about how they play. Really good players have that. Our guys are going in the right direction."