Last Sunday at Camden Yards, left-hander John Means was solid for 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on two hits against Oakland. 

In Friday night's 3-2 win over the A's at the Oakland Coliseum, Means was even better. In fact, he was dominant, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out nine, at one point retiring 14 consecutive batters. Even more impressive, the A’s had 22 swings and misses.

The lefty was able to pile up the K's because of his changeup, which he could throw at any count. The way Means was talking after the game, though, he had a tough time controlling his other pitches.

“I wasn’t a huge fan of my fastball command, to be honest with you,” Means said. “The curveball wasn’t really getting over a whole lot. The slider felt good, too. But the changeup was the saving grace.” 

Means’ fastball was clocked as high as 94 mph and Oakland caught up to it in the second and seventh innings on solo home runs by Sean Murphy and Mitch Moreland, respectively.

“The pitch mix was there. … He made some adjustments tonight on them. That is a tough lineup to face once and he did it twice in a week and pitched outstandingly,” manager Brandon Hyde said about Means' outing.

A's manager Bob Melvin noticed that Means was a different pitcher than the one he saw last Sunday.

"This time, he threw more changeups. He used the slider against the lefties pretty good today. He’s good,” Melvin said. “You’re going to have to try to hold them down and hope you can get him out of the game and score off the bullpen.” 

Means is indeed a different pitcher this year because he changed his mentality. Last year, Means would get easily frustrated if things didn’t go his way. He had a season to forget in 2020, posting a 4.53 ERA in 10 starts. Through six starts in 2021, his ERA is a miniscule 1.70.  

“I’ve done a good job of just staying within myself and letting the game come to me,” Means said. “I’m not making any moment too big, even with guys on base. I keep my cool and stay relaxed."

The O's offense provided Means with enough support to win his third game of the season. After Murphy's solo shot staked the A's to a 1-0 lead, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the third to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead against right-hander Mike Fiers.

Baltimore added to its lead two innings later when Chance Cisco scored on a groundout by Mullins. The Orioles had a chance to tack on more later in the game, but runners were left stranded, leaving Hyde frustrated.

Take the sixth inning: The Orioles had runners on first and second with no outs. Rio Ruiz then hit into a double play, which left DJ Stewart at third base. Pat Valaika, the next hitter, flew out to right fielder Stephen Piscotty to end the threat.  

Three innings later and with one out, Ryan Mountcastle was thrown out trying to advance from first to third on a bloop single by Valaika.  

“It would be nice to score a couple of more runs and give a little breathing room for all of our pitchers,” Hyde said. “We had an opportunity to score a couple of times. We just have to be able to push more runs across when you have a lead or you allow the team to get back in the game. You set yourself up to make it tough on yourself. We made it harder on ourselves.” 

After Means left the game, Paul Fry, Travis Lakins Sr. and César Valdez blanked Oakland the rest of the way, though Valdez had to navigate out of a two-on, none-out situation to nail down the save.