In the six days separating John Means from his historic no-hitter and follow-up start Tuesday at Citi Field, he resisted the urge to relive the accomplishment.

Sure, there were the litany of interviews, many with national media talking to Means for the first time. There was the pregame ceremony at Oriole Park commemorating his achievement, the cap tip from Jim Palmer and the acknowledgement from the Hall of Fame. As far as participating in those activities, Means largely had no say. And he didn’t argue against any of it.

But on his own time, Means opted either to live in the present or look forward. He eschewed watching video of the game, shrugging it off as a potential distraction. If his between-starts focus wavered slightly, it was at the sight of another no-hitter -- Wade Miley’s against Cleveland -- two days after his. Besides that, Means’ reaction to history was understated, his encore prep simple.

“I’m just trying,” Means said this week, “to pitch against the Mets and maybe get a hit.”

So it was Tuesday, when Means fell short of that batting goal, but nonetheless dominated on the mound. Means wasn’t near-perfect like last time -- it took only four pitches to allow his first hit, a single to Mets leadoff man Jeff McNeil. He was, however, stellar, outdueling Marcus Stroman for six innings in Baltimore’s eventual 3-2 loss to the Mets.

“Those were six great innings,” O’s manager Brandon Hyde said. “I was really impressed with how he came back after a big day six days ago, to repeat that and pitch extremely well today on the road in New York.”

Holding the Mets to six singles and walking none, Means needed just 74 pitches to breeze through six shutout frames. He would’ve gone longer had it not been for National League rules, or had Stroman not held the O’s offense off the board until the seventh. Nevertheless, Means was in line for the win before the Mets rallied off César Valdez in the ninth, tying the game on Dominic Smith’s single and winning on Patrick Mazeika’s walk-off fielder’s choice.

“He's been one of the best closers in baseball in my opinion,” Means said of Valdez. “He just left a couple pitches up, and that happens. We’re all not perfect.”

There’s that word again. If it strikes a chord coming from Means, it’s because it was less than a week ago when he almost, so dramatically, was. Tuesday’s outing was littered with similar elements, despite its imperfection: Means threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 23 hitters, elicited swings-and-misses on more than one-third of his changeups, walked none and used soft contact to wiggle out of jams in the fourth and sixth.

As a result, Means shaved his American League-best ERA to 1.21; he’s now allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of his last 12 starts dating back to 2020, posting a 1.31 ERA in that span. He’s also the first pitcher to follow a no-hitter with a scoreless outing since Edinson Volquez in 2017.

“I was just trying to get another good outing out of the way and move on,” Means said. “I wasn't hanging on it. But after the first [hit], you almost take a sigh of relief. You can just go back to not thinking about it anymore, and just pitching.”

Valdez’s third blown save in 11 chances brought a dramatic, sour end to a game the Orioles did not trail until the final moment, largely because Means did pitch so well. But also because he departed earlier than he likely would’ve in a more typical American League setting (though Hyde revealed postgame Means was on an 85-pitch count after throwing a career-high 113 in his no-hitter).

As it was, Freddy Galvis and Maikel Franco singled off Stroman to open the seventh in a scoreless game, and advanced to second on Rio Ruiz’s sacrifice bunt. Mets manager Luis Rojas then forced Hyde’s hand, intentionally walking eight-hole hitter Pedro Severino to bring up Means’ lineup spot with the bases loaded. Shoehorned by NL rules, Hyde lifted his ace for DJ Stewart, then swapped Stewart with Pat Valaika when Rojas replaced Stroman with lefty Aaron Loup. Valaika sent Loup’s first pitch to right for a go-ahead sacrifice fly, accounting for the game’s first run.

“I really didn’t think they were going to walk Severino there with Stroman, right on right,” Hyde said. “But if they did, I had DJ there to hit if they wanted to keep Stro’ in the game, and if they wanted to bring in Loup then I could bring in [Valaika], which I did. It was about trying to give our team a lead.”

In the short-term, it worked. Combined with Galvis’ daring two-out RBI squeeze bunt an inning later, it was nearly enough to make a winner of Means, before Smith’s single off Valdez scored Kevin Pillar, and old friend Jonathan Villar beat Trey Mancini’s throw home on Mazeika’s grounder. The Mets also scratched a run off Adam Plutko in the eighth.

“Bases loaded, we need that run, right there,” Means said. “I completely understand it. Obviously, the competitor in me wants to go back out there. But logistically it just didn't make sense.”