Means shows flashes of '21 brilliance in '24 debut

CINCINNATI -- For John Means to return to the mound for the Orioles and come out healthy was the goal. For him to pitch as well as he has since his 2021 no-hitter -- that was above and beyond any expectations.

Making just his seventh start since the end of the 2021 season, Means tossed seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts as Baltimore bested the Reds, 2-1, on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.

“That was unbelievable,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I know he feels amazing right now. To go out and do that, seven shutout innings the first time out of rehab, not being on a big league mound for a while, was way more than we anticipated and expected and just shows you the competitor Means is and how off-balance he can keep big league hitters. The changeup was fantastic.”

It’s been a long road back for the 31-year-old southpaw. Means only made two starts in 2022 before requiring Tommy John surgery and returned to make four starts last September before left elbow soreness held him out of the ‘23 playoffs. That lingering injury delayed his start to ‘24 by a month.

But Means hardly appeared to miss a beat on the mound. He dialed up 19 whiffs, his most in any start since the May 5, 2021, no-hitter and held Cincinnati to three hits with no walks. That no-no was also his only Major League start besides Saturday in which he went at least seven scoreless innings with eight K’s and no free passes.

Means looked like his old self off the jump. He pumped pitches into the zone and moved quickly, even while racking up swings and misses. He never required more than 16 pitches to get through an inning and ultimately tossed 58 of his 85 pitches for strikes.

“You want to get that first one out of the way, the first inning,” Means said. “The first inning felt pretty good, and then you start to settle in a little bit after the second and third and getting some swings that I'd like to see. I was getting a couple of swings and misses and started to really settle in.”

The lefty had his moments of looking sharp last September in his initial return from the surgery. In particular, he stood out for a one-hit start over 7 1/3 innings in Cleveland on Sept. 23.

However, Means relied heavily on his fastball and changeup in that start, throwing them a combined 82 percent of the time, compared to 62 percent on Saturday. This time around, he was able to unleash his full arsenal and was particularly effective with a harder changeup -- up 2.1 mph from last season, picking up eight whiffs -- and a firmer slider -- up 0.9 mph, with six whiffs.

“Just locating his pitches,” Reds left fielder Spencer Steer said. “Using his changeup real effectively. He didn’t really miss middle with anything. He’s got four good pitches. He did a good job commanding all of them. He was tough.”

Assuming good health, Means is expected to be a key cog in the pitching staff going forward. A 2019 All-Star, he has a career 3.67 ERA with a 4.23 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Saturday was a large first step toward fulfilling his promise -- not only is he healthy once again, but he’s already in top form.

“I have a lot of respect for John Means and the journey that he's been through to get to this point,” catcher James McCann said. “He's gonna be a big part of our rotation, a big part of our team. I know I'm not alone in saying that we're very excited to have him back.”