Means goes deep, but so do batters

Left-hander lasts into the sixth before 2 HRs lead to his exit

John Means’ contribution to the Orioles’ 9-4 loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday evening at Camden Yards counted as progress, which says plenty about how he’s following up an All-Star debut season.

Means, the runner-up for 2019 American League Rookie of the Year award, pitched into the sixth inning for the first time this season but allowed two home runs, the second coming on his 81st and final pitch and landing in the second deck.

Now, with just a few starts left this

season, all the Orioles will hope for is something positive for Means to take home this offseason.

“I think It’s just command and continuing to throw him out there every five days,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s really all about fastball command and that changeup back and not cutting it. I do see flashes of good breaking balls, but I just feel like every pitch is max-effort.

“Last year, it was just a little smoother in the delivery. Second half when he struggled, you saw a lot of elevated fastballs, elevated changeups. But early on, especially in that first half and toward late September, he really got back to a really nice delivery and locating his fastball in and out. Right now, for me, he’s just trying so hard. There’s just a lot of effort in every pitch.”

Means said: “I don’t like losing. I don’t like getting hit. And that’s what’s been happening. I’m just trying to do the best I can to get back to feeling good, feeling right. I’m confident that I can get there.”

It’s been a difficult season in which Means missed his scheduled Opening Day start with a tired arm, then pitched twice before missing over a week to return home to the Kansas City area to be with his family after his father, Alan, died of cancer.

But his struggle of building back up his arm and keeping the ball in the ballpark with his new hard-throwing arsenal have meant that Means has just a few more starts to salvage a sophomore season that hasn’t gone according to plan.

Means said he’s never had worse fastball command in his life than he did Wednesday, which Hyde believes is correlated to his increased fastball velocity.

“I feel like he’s still trying to get a feel for that too. I don’t know if the late ramp-up and the inconsistent work that he’s done the last month — it just doesn’t seem like the fastball command is where he needs it to be,” Hyde said.

Núñez leaves

First baseman Renato Núñez was in one of his hot stretches with four home runs in seven games, but was 0-for-3 Wednesday before he was replaced for the top of the seventh by Dilson Herrera.

Núñez slowed up on his trot to first on a fifth-inning groundout, but remained in the game for the sixth inning before leaving the game the next inning.