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Posted at 11:30 AM EST. 

BALTIMORE -1½ +150 over Washington

1:05 PM EST. John Means (LHP - BAL) was enjoying an early season breakout before hitting the IL with a shoulder strain. He made his return to the Orioles rotation last Tuesday against the Rays and there was undoubtedly some rust to knock off, as Means was touched up for five runs on seven hits in five innings. While there are no guarantees, we suspect that Means will be sharper today with that comeback start under his belt, much like a horse after a layoff than a tightener.

The Nationals rotation was forced to shuffle with the late scratch of Max Scherzer yesterday, which forced Jon Lester to take his turn a day early. The same will happen with Paolo Espino (RHP - WAS) this afternoon after he made his last appearance in a start against the Marlins, where he allowed four hits across five scoreless innings. That recent success might give Espino some curb appeal today, but forgive us if we can't get excited about the 34-year-old journeyman. A low strikeout rate (6 K’s/9), low groundball rate (35.6%) and a dismal swing and miss rate (7.7%) suggest that those scoreless efforts are an outlier and not the norm.

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