The last time John Means had a month like this, the Orioles left-hander pitched himself to an All-Star Game.
His April, capped by seven brilliant innings in a 3-2 Orioles win over the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum, has established him as something even greater.
Means went seven innings on 93 pitches and hardly had a blemish, with a pair of runs coming on solo home runs and just three hits and a walk allowed. He struck out nine on a career-best 22 swinging strikes. Oakland whiffed on 23.6% of his pitches, the highest rate of any appearance in his major league career.