John Means throws 10th no-hitter in Orioles history, misses perfect game by one wild pitch

May 7 update: Another no-hitter in 2021! Reds SP Wade Miley has no-hit the Indians.

Baltimore Orioles left-handed pitcher John Means shut down the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday and spun the third no-hitter of the 2021 season. Means struck out 12 en route to a 6-0 victory. It is the 10th no-hitter in Orioles franchise history.

Means came up literally a bounced ball away from a perfect game. He got the first seven batters out when Sam Haggerty came to the plate in the bottom of the third. Means struck him out swinging on a 1-2 pitch, but the pitch was wild and Haggerty was able to reach first base. He was subsequently thrown out attempting to steal second base and so Means faced the minimum with no other base runners allowed in the game.

The Orioles jumped on the Mariners early, with back-to-back singles playing two runs in the second inning. Baltimore added another run on a Pat Valaika home run in the seventh inning and then three more on a Trey Mancini homer in the eighth inning.

This is Means’ third season with the Orioles since being promoted in September 2018, and he is off to the best start of his young career. Through seven starts this season, he is 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA. Means stumbled in 2020 after getting his career off to a strong start as a rookie in 2019. That season he was an All Star, going 12-11 over 27 starts and finishing the season with a 3.60 ERA. It was enough to earn him second place in AL Rookie of the Year balloting.

Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter of the 2021 season on April 9, a 3-0 win over the Rangers. White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon followed five days later in an 8-0 win over the Indians. The record for total no-hitters in a season is 7, which happened in 1990 and 2015.