O’s homer 4 times in wild win over Rays

In a marathon 17-15 win by the split-squad Orioles over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday that featured 28 hits, nine errors and seven home runs, two sets of professional baseball players spent nearly four hours balancing on the edge of fun and folly, falling often but certainly not failing to entertain.

Home runs by Rio Ruiz, Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle helped overcome a rough start for Dylan Bundy before things went off the tracks for both sides.

“I don’t know if words can really describe what just took place the last four hours,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. His counterpart, Brandon Hyde, left before things unraveled to make it to the night game in Sarasota, Fla.

A sacrifice fly by Stevie Wilkerson in which Wilkerson and DJ Stewart, who was at first base, didn’t know whether the ball was caught provided the eventual winning run and a fitting encapsulation of the depths the game descended to.

Bundy allowed six runs on six hits — including a home run by left fielder Brandon Lowe that ended his day with two outs in the second inning — but an eight-run third inning for the Orioles reversed that deficit.

Hays helped that inning along with a two-run double down the left-field line, and Ruiz capped the third with a three-run home run.

Mountcastle's first home run of the spring was worth three runs and was crushed off the batter's eye in center field. An inning later, the fellow top prospect Hays mirrored that with his own deep home run to center field.

A bad omen: Bundy was done in by the fastball command problems that have plagued him all spring, but the 11-pitch at-bat by leadoff man Austin Meadows to start the game didn't help. Bundy thought he had Meadows rung up on a 3-2 fastball at the knees on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, but eventually had Meadows flip a fastball into short left field that the Orioles, who were shifted the other way, couldn't get to.

"First batter you face, you're trying to just throw some heaters down and away, maybe some changeups, and get a soft-contact out or a strikeout, " Bundy said. "Everything I was throwing, he was just fouling off, either early or late, topping it into the ground. I was just like, ‘Come on, dude. You need to get out already.’ But I pretty much threw everything I had — in, out, up, down — except for the curveball."

With his roster spot secure for the past two seasons, Bundy hasn't been at his best during spring training, and typically has a little more fastball than the 89-91 mph he was carrying Saturday. Still, he's been hit around a bit, allowing 15 hits and 10 runs in 62⁄3 innings. He said Saturday was "not good.”

"They were just hitting them where we weren't, but then again, changeup didn't have much depth or tail to it," Bundy said. "The changeup wasn't really effective today to left-handed hitters, and then a couple fastballs, just left over the middle of the plate again."

Mountcastle heating up: Mountcastle's three-hit day was his best of the spring, and came at a good time. The Orioles could send players back to minor league camp after Saturday's split-squad games, and with Chris Davis’ hip injury, Mountcastle has a good case to stick around.

Any work he can get at first base in Grapefruit League play can help, and some of the growth areas for him to work on at his new position came out Saturday. He bobbled and dropped a potential double-play feed in the first inning, although the throw might not have beaten the runner anyway. Later in the game, he looked like he got a generous neighborhood call on a play where he might have pulled off the bag before the ball arrived.

It's all minor, but going from watching Mountcastle play third base Friday to first base Saturday was a good illustration of how much better suited he is at the new spot. It's just going to take some time, and by then, the bat will certainly be ready for prime time.

Escobar keeps it going: With Rule 5 draft picks Richie Martin and Drew Jackson garnering plenty of attention in camp, the man signed as veteran insurance for them this spring — Alcides Escobar — has steadily played his way into the roster conversation, too.

Escobar had an RBI single and reached on an error in four trips to the plate to bring his average to .300, and continues to play solid defense at third base and shortstop. The Orioles might not have to make a difficult decision on that matter — they could keep all three relatively painlessly — but if they want to keep Escobar around, he's giving them plenty of reasons to.

Healthy debut for Bleier: Left-handed reliever Richard Bleier was the first to acknowledge the results weren’t pretty, but he was pleased with everything else about his first appearance in a game since he suffered a severe lat muscle injury in June.

Bleier retired just two batters and allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits in the Orioles’ 6-1 splitsquad loss to the New York Yankees on Saturday night. But it wasn’t really about that when you’ve waited eight months to get back on the mound.

He looked comfortable out there and had decent command, giving up a couple of opposite-field doubles to right-handed hitters and a bad-hop single on the infield. Only one of the runs was earned after a throwing error with no outs allowed the first run of the inning to score from second base.

“I felt great,’’ Bleier said. “That was about as good as I could have been feeling-wise. I felt the ball was coming out of my hand really well. I executed almost all of my pitches, other than the first double. Even the second one, he kind of stuck his bat out.

“My fastball was good. My cutter was good. That’s pretty much all that matters, honestly. The rest of the stuff is just a bonus. I’m extremely happy with it. I know, obviously, the results weren’t quite what I wanted, but I’ll take small victories at this point. You know, it’s been a while.”

Hess solid again: Righthander David Hess was coming off an appearance against the Minnesota Twins in which he retired all nine batters he faced. He allowed a double on his first pitch of Saturday night’s start and then retired nine straight batters, but left the game after giving up two more hits in the fourth inning.

He was charged with two runs on three hits, but struck out three and did not walk a batter in 31⁄3 innings.

Jon Meoli reported from Port Charlotte, Fla., and Peter Schmuck reported from Sarasota, Fla. jmeoli@baltsun.com twitter.com/JonMeoli peter.schmuck@baltsun.com twitter.com/SchmuckStop