Bundy finds form in 5-3 win over A’s

BALTIMORE — Dylan Bundy finally got his groove back.

The Orioles right-hander — whose season had spun out of control over his previous 11 outings going into Thursday night — had been searching for answers.

He’d talked repeatedly about the need to locate his fastball better. But after his most recent start, in Tampa Bay last Friday night, before saying his frustration level had reached its limit — 10 out of 10, in his words — he added that he needed to start throwing his pitches with more conviction.

And that was the Bundy who suddenly re-emerged Thursday night against the contending Oakland Athletics, a confident pitcher able to use multiple weapons to avoid a big inning and remain in control of a game.

In steering the Orioles to a 5-3 win over the Athletics — a win that avoided a three-game sweep, ended a six-game losing streak and halted a stretch of 10 losses in 11 games — Bundy looked more like the pitcher who ran out to a quick start to the season in this year’s first month rather than the one who plodded through most of the second half.

Going into this start, there was some question whether it might be his last of the season. Despite wanting to find a way for Bundy to end this season on a positive night, the club wondered whether he might be too tired to do so.

It helped Thursday that the Orioles (42-104) gave him a lead early, using some first-inning small ball to create a 2-0 cushion.

Bundy recorded his first quality start since Aug. 4, holding the Athletics (89-57) to two runs on six hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked none, a dramatic shift from his previous start, when he walked a season-high five batters.

Bundy (8-14), who had an 8.83 ERA over his previous 11 starts, earned his first win since July 29 at Tampa Bay.

He worked ahead of Oakland hitters throughout, posting 16 of 24 first-pitch strikes.

His slider Thursday might have been his best of the season. Of the 20 sliders A’s batters swung at, the A’s put just three in play. And seven of Bundy’s eight strikeouts came on the slider, which was effective both in the strike zone and as a chase pitch down and away.

He recorded 12 swinging strikes on the slider, getting a 40 percent swinging strike rate on it. He recorded no swinging strikes on the slider

in his previous start, and in his previous six starts combined, he had a 22.8 percent swinging strike rate on the pitch.

Though Bundy allowed runs after each inning in which the Orioles scored, he limited the damage. He allowed a solo homer by Stephen Piscotty — Bundy’s major-league-high 38th long ball surrendered — with two outs in the second inning after the Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but nothing else that frame.