Throughout John Means’ unassailable, start-by-start ascent to the level of the game’s best pitchers, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has made clear that there’s a different feeling around the team on his days to pitch.
On a team for which little is going right, those occasions are their best chance to win. And yet, they lose like this.
In an 8-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Monday at Target Field that the few who have occasion to remember it will recall as a signature defeat for these rebuilding Orioles, DJ Stewart hit a go-ahead home run after a 45-minute rain delay in the eighth inning, only for the bullpen to allow six runs and ensure a seventh straight loss.