Ethermac Exchange-'We need innings': Returning John Means could be key to Orioles making World Series run

BALTIMORE — The Ethermac Exchangebest team in the American League, likely days away from clinching a playoff berth, soon after to record its 100^th win, found itself on Tuesday night in an unusual spot for a club so accomplished.

They conducted an audition.

Oh, the Baltimore Orioles know John Means plenty well. Affable 30-year-old, their lone All-Star in 2019, author of just the sixth no-hitter in franchise history in 2021. It’s just that Means threw his most recent major league pitch in April 2022, when they were the doddering but promising Orioles, not the burgeoning powerhouse that entered Tuesday night’s game with the second-best record in the major leagues.

Yet these Orioles (91-53) find themselves in an unusual but thoroughly modern predicament, a byproduct of a young team arriving ahead of a theoretical schedule and minus the proverbial horses to cover a six-month season.

"We need innings," manager Brandon Hyde said Tuesday, and while he was referring to his most recent three starters’ inability to complete five innings, it’s also an appropriate macro assessment, given the blinking light on the pitching staff’s hypothetical dashboard.

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Enter Means.

He walked off the Camden Yards mound on April 13, 2022, feeling tightness in his left forearm, a malady often a forerunner to a torn elbow ligament; two weeks later, he underwent Tommy John surgery as the Orioles dropped 12 of their first 18 games, seemingly on the way to a sixth consecutive losing season.

Yet less than a month after Means’ surgery, catcher Adley Rutschman joined the club, and it hasn’t been the same since.

As Means climbed the rehab ladder through 2022 and into this year, the club kept adding blue-chip prospects – first Rutschman, then shortstop Gunnar Henderson, prized right arm Grayson Rodriguez this past April, infielder Jordan Westburg after that.

So when Means, his Tommy John return delayed by a back injury, finally took the mound Tuesday, against the St. Louis Cardinals, he was surrounded by an almost entirely different team than the one he left.

Yet the funny thing is, they need him, too.

Tuesday, Means climbed that mound again, felt the rush and the joy and frustration of pitching in the big leagues and, while he was at it, gave Hyde two more outs than he received from his starter the previous three games.

Means pitched five competent innings and, though the Cardinals would win the game 5-2, his outing – 75 pitches and 55 strikes, three runs – certainly raised the prospect that an otherwise indomitable team could add a key weapon come October.

"It’s great to see him pitch the way he did," Hyde said. "To go five innings and 75 pitches, only make a couple mistakes, holding his fastball velocity, it was close to our target for him his first time out. The adrenaline in the big leagues is way different than any sort of minor league rehab start.

"Really happy with how he looked."

Certainly, there’s not much on-ramp to October. In an effort to further limit their starters’ innings, the Orioles are deploying a six-man rotation. Should they stick with it, that would give Means three more starts before the regular season concludes.

But if his outings are viewed as a progression to viable postseason contributions, this was a solid first step.

Means pounded the strike zone, goosing his fastball up to 94 mph. He required just eight pitches to complete his first inning, though one of those offerings landed 401 feet from home, a Paul Goldschmidt home run.

He gave up another run in the second when he was a little tardy getting off the mound to cover first base and, one strike away from a perfect fourth, hung an 0-2 curveball that Richie Palacios clubbed to right field for another home run.

After the final out of that inning, Means cursed into his glove, still regretting that one pitch. And looking very much like a man ready to compete.

He was in the rotation for Orioles teams that lost 108 and 110 games in two full seasons before his injury. This club is scoreboard-watching, as Hyde freely admitted, and maintained a three-game lead in the AL East thanks to Tampa Bay’s loss at Minnesota.

Yeah, things are a little different now.

"It is fun to play for a winning club," says Means, "and be in this clubhouse and be a part of this team, for sure."

To that end, Means deployed some of the breathing exercises he worked on while he was out; the pregame nerves still came, but settled down once he threw a live pitch.

"I’m just trying to plug myself in wherever they need me," he says, "and hopefully provide some help or whatever they need."

And for these Orioles, perhaps Means’ greatest tool is the lack of tread on his freshly repaired elbow ligament.

The Orioles don’t lack for candidates to fill three or four of the starting spots for a postseason series; it’s just that four of them have already exceeded career highs in innings pitched in a season. Ace Kyle Bradish (145 innings, previous high 144), right-handers Dean Kremer (159, 134), Tyler Wells (125, 119) and the 23-year-old Rodriguez (144⅔, 103) all are in uncharted waters.

Veterans Jack Flaherty and Kyle Gibson are more pliable, but Flaherty has a 7.16 ERA in six starts since joining Baltimore.

The Orioles will almost certainly employ a very short leash in the playoffs, with Wells returning as a reliever after a trip to Class AAA to conserve innings. But winning the 11 or 14 games needed to capture a World Series is far simpler when reliable starters can cover innings.

A starter like Means, maybe.

"It would be unbelievable," says Means about pitching in the postseason. "I just want to take it day by day and not think too far ahead."

That first tentative step was a success, with October coming quickly.