Orioles' John Means set for season debut vs. Reds

John Means was one of the few bright spots during a long rebuild by the Baltimore Orioles.

On Saturday evening, Means will hope he can begin to fully experience what it's like to pitch for the pennant-contending Orioles.

Coming off the injured list, the 31-year-old is slated to make his season debut when the Orioles visit the Cincinnati Reds in the middle game of a three-game interleague series.

Means will oppose the Reds' Andrew Abbott (1-3, 3.27 ERA) in a battle of left-handers.

The Orioles won their fourth game in their past five contests Friday night when Cole Irvin held his opponent scoreless for the third straight start and Ryan O'Hearn's two-run homer capped a three-run seventh inning that lifted Baltimore to a 3-0 win.

Irvin gave up two hits -- both to emerging star Elly De La Cruz -- over 6 1/3 innings before Yennier Cano, Danny Coulombe and Craig Kimbrel combined to retire the final eight Reds batters.

The emergence of Irvin -- who has thrown 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating to the fourth inning of a start against the Minnesota Twins on April 15 -- has deepened a rotation that was headed by Means from 2019-21. In that span, he went 20-24 with a 3.73 ERA for a team that had the worst record (131-253) in the major leagues during that three-year stretch.

Means made the American League All-Star team in 2019 and threw a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on May 5, 2021. But he underwent Tommy John surgery after making two starts in 2022, when the Orioles went 83-79, and was limited to four September starts last year, when Baltimore finished 101-61 and won the AL East.

Means was expected to be part of the postseason rotation but suffered a forearm strain and didn't pitch when Baltimore was swept by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers in an AL Division Series. He was 1-2 with an 8.68 ERA in six rehab starts for Triple-A Norfolk before being activated by the Orioles, whose 21-11 record entering Saturday is the best in the AL.

"You don't take anything for granted," Means said this week. "You embrace the little moments, just being here and being around the guys."

Means has never faced the Reds.

The Reds' offensive struggles continued Friday, when they fell for the sixth time in eight games. Cincinnati has been blanked twice in that stretch and scored four or fewer runs five other times.

Irvin retired 17 straight batters Friday between De La Cruz's first-inning single and his seventh-inning double.

"We've just got to keep working, continue with our process, continue to make adjustments and work through it -- continue to swing it and continue to look for our pitches to hit," Reds manager David Bell said Friday night. "All the things that we do, we have to stay with it."

Abbott took the loss last Sunday, when he gave up four runs over 5 1/3 innings as the Reds fell to the Texas Rangers 4-3. He won his lone career start against the Orioles last June 27, when he allowed one run in six innings in Cincinnati's 3-1 victory.