The Orioles have lost their opening day starter, lefty John Means, for an undetermined length of time. Now, as they await further word on Means' injury, manager Brandon Hyde will try to piece his rotation together and decide the next steps for a pitching staff minus its ace.

Means left his start on Wednesday night against Milwaukee at Camden Yards after four innings and 51 pitches with what was announced that night as left forearm tightness. He had an MRI yesterday.

“He has a forearm muscle strain,” Hyde said during his pregame press conference today at the ballpark. “We need some additional tests to look at any structural damage to his elbow. We’re just continuing to look at it right now, so it's still to be determined how long (he’ll be out).

“I did talk to him earlier. He’s fine. John is not a real up and down guy and he’s just trying to stay positive with this whole thing. And optimistic. But I think he’s handling it fine.

“We don’t have much experience in our rotation and losing your opening day starter. We’ll see how long it’s going to be. But for some time now, it’s going to be hard. Do need guys to step up. John’s one of the guys that people look up to on our pitching staff. So to have him out is going to be challenging.”

A few observations from the Orioles’ first six games. They went 1-5, but played close, competitive games against two 2021 division winners in the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.

Rotation concerns: It’s too soon for their rotation to be in crisis, but there is some reason for concern. They have uncertainty with what they are doing with the No. 5 starter and now reason to worry about lefty John Means.

Means left after four innings last night with left forearm tightness and didn’t sound too concerned in his postgame interview. An MRI could show the club and fan base if there is any real reason for concern. But how can there not be some worry about a pitcher that has had shoulder issues in the past and is having this issue after just two starts?

Means is not only very talented but is a leader on the pitching staff. Losing him for any length of time would be a blow.

The Orioles have both Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish in the rotation right now at Triple-A Norfolk and both threw four scoreless in their season debuts. Tonight is Rodriguez’s second Triple-A start. The Tides had listed right-hander Kyle Brnovich to start tomorrow night and southpaw Kevin Smith on Saturday.

Trying to catch a break or at least a few clutch hits, the Orioles came up with sort of a partial loaf tonight. They finally scored some runners in scoring position to tie the game 2-2. But when Milwaukee pushed across two runs in the top of the ninth versus righty Jorge López, they beat the Orioles 4-2 at Camden Yards.

But it was a night where the Orioles’ top starting pitcher, lefty John Means, exited the game early due to injury.

Means, who missed time last year with a shoulder issue, retired seven straight batters through the top of the fourth tonight and was trailing Milwaukee 2-0. But he was settling into a good groove, retiring the Brewers in order on nine pitches in the third and 12 pitches in the fourth.

And then he was suddenly out of the game due to left forearm tightness.

When right-hander Joey Krehbiel started warming up in the home fourth, it was clear something was up. Means was at 51 pitches through four and he was rolling. But he would also soon be out of the game.

Orioles left-hander John Means retired the Brewers in order tonight on 12 pitches in the first inning, nine in the third and 12 in the fourth. They scored twice in the second on 18 pitches, but he wasn’t laboring. The total body of work was solid.

Why it lasted only through the fourth was a curiosity, to say the least.

Joey Krehbiel began to warm in the bullpen and entered the game in the top of the fifth. Dillon Tate worked the sixth. Other relievers would be following him, as manager Brandon Hyde needed to cover for Means’ unexpected departure.

The club announced that Means had left forearm tightness, with more details to come, including whether this is an injured list situation. Meanwhile, the Orioles rallied to tie the game in the eighth, but a run-scoring triple by Kolton Wong and RBI double by Rowdy Tellez in the ninth off Jorge López gave Milwaukee a 4-2 win and the series.

Means is expected to undergo an MRI, and the club hopes to have more information Friday.

It is a marquee pitching matchup to wrap up the Brewers-Orioles series tonight as O’s lefty John Means (0-0, 2.25 ERA) faces Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Camden Yards. Tonight’s winner takes the series after Baltimore’s 2-0 win Monday and Milwaukee’s 5-4 victory last night.

Burnes won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award in a close vote over the Phillies' Zach Wheeler and Max Scherzer, who was with the Nationals and Dodgers last year. In the final vote tally, Burnes came up with 151 points to 141 for Wheeler and 113 for Scherzer. The 10-point margin of victory was the closest in the NL and tied for the fourth-closest overall since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010. The closest in the American League was in 2012, when the Rays’ David Price outpointed the Tigers’ Justin Verlander 153-149.

Some Orioles fans will certainly remember that the closest election in the AL before that occurred in 1969 with the only tie in Cy Young Award balloting, between the O’s Mike Cuellar and the Tigers’ Denny McLain, the last year when voters could select only one pitcher.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only other Cy Young Award winners for the Brewers, Rollie Fingers in 1981 and Pete Vuckovich in 1982, did so in the AL. The Brewers moved to the NL in 1998.

Burnes went 11-5 with an ERA of 2.43, best in the NL, in winning the award. Over 167 innings, he recorded a WHIP of 0.94, allowed just 6.6 hits per nine and only seven homers for a homer rate of 0.4. In 2021, he recorded 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk on May 13. The Brewers went 19-9 in his starts.

Allowed to throw 84 pitches over four innings on opening day, Orioles left-hander John Means can be pushed a bit more tonight in his start against the Brewers.

Wade into the medium level of the pool before submerging in the deep end.

“It depends on how efficient he is, traffic, stressful innings,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I’m hoping to get him up to five or six innings and in the 85-pitch range or maybe a little higher. Kind of see how the game goes.”

The Dodgers pulled Clayton Kershaw today after seven perfect innings, another product of a short spring training. Hyde was asked what he’d do tonight if Means was perfect through the seventh at 80 pitches.

No mention of Kershaw. Just a “what if.”

Anthony Bemboom is catching tonight as the Orioles close out their series against the Brewers.

Ramón Urías is at third base and Jorge Mateo is the shortstop.

Rougned Odor is starting at second base.

Trey Mancini, the designated hitter and batting fourth, has a hit in four of the first five games.

John Means makes his second start after allowing one run and six hits in four innings against the Rays.

The failure yesterday of Major League Baseball and the Players Association to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and the subsequent cancellation of the first two series leaves the Orioles with the possibility of opening their season at Tropicana Field on April 8. A best-case scenario that requires the two sides to resume negotiations in New York. The Orioles most recent opener in St. Petersburg happened in 2015, a convenient drive from major league camp in Sarasota. Chris Tillman...