*Photo from Lookout Landing*
It had been since 1991 since the Baltimore Orioles had thrown a no hitter, it had been since 1969 that it was just one pitcher who threw the no hitter, because the one in 1991 was a combined no hitter. Now, it has been since Wednesday afternoon. Trey Mancini homered, John Means threw a no hitter, and the Orioles no hit the Seattle Mariners with a 6-0 win Wednesday afternoon, with Means becoming the first Orioles pitcher since Jim Palmer in 1969 to throw a no hitter by himself.
In the second inning, the Orioles grabbed two runs, one on an RBI single by DJ Stewart, the other on an RBI single by Ramon Urias. It stayed 2-0 until the 7th inning, when Pat Valaika hit a solo homer to left field. In the 8th, Mancini opened the game up with a 3 run homer to left field to make it 6-0 Baltimore, and Means did the rest.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Means' no hitter that "We're in the third year of this rebuilding cycle, and to have somebody that can go shut down an offense in the way he's been doing it, that's the feeling you’re getting with John right now. You go to the ballpark and Means is on the mound, it’s going to be a fun night."
Means dominated, allowing zero hits. The only runner to reach was Sam Haggerty, who got to first on a dropped 3rd strike that was ruled a wild pitch. Haggerty was then promptly thrown out on the basepaths, so it was 27 up and 27 down for Means, despite not having a perfect game. Means struck out 12 Mariners in his no hitter, joining Joe Musgrove and Carlos Rodon as the pitchers to have an official no hitter this season.
Means himself said of the no hitter that "I can't put it into words. I can't do it. It's such a crazy feeling. It's such a whirlwind of an experience, and I don't think I've been able to process it yet. But to be in the same breath as Palmer, I don't think that gets much better than that."
Yusei Kikuchi took the loss for Seattle, despite having a solid outing, he just wasn't as impressive as Means. Kikuchi allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and one walk, striking out 7 hitters in 7 innings pitched. Aaron Fletcher and Ljay Newsome each threw an inning of relief after Kikuchi departed.
Mariners infielder Kyle Seager said of being no hit by Means that "He was awesome today, there's no question about it. He was ahead of us all day. We were behind pretty much every single count. He was spinning it. His fastball had some good life. He was throwing changeups for strikes. A lot of swing and miss. A lot of just missing balls underneath everything. I mean, he was obviously very good."
The Orioles travel to Boston to face the Red Sox over the weekend, with Matt Harvey pitching the first game of the series on Friday night. The Mariners resume play on Friday against the Texas Rangers, with no starter announced yet.
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