Bundy solid despite more HR trouble
Right-hander gives up 3 homers in quality start; Lee sent to Double-A
Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy turned in his best performance since returning from the disabled list in Sunday afternoon’s 11-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards.
Bundy recorded his first quality start since June 23 in Atlanta — a game in which he turned his left ankle rounding third base — holding Tampa Bay to three runs on four hits over seven innings.
He allowed just five base runners, and although three of the four hits Bundy allowed were home runs, they were all solo shots.
“It’s frustrating for Dylan because he doesn’t want to be giving up anything,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “I’ve talked to him about it. You go back and look at every one of them, it’s a mistake. But there’s something to be said for them being solo, especially in this ballpark, the way the ball was flying out of here today.”
Going into Sunday’s start, Bundy had allowed five earned runs in each of his past three official starts since returning from the DL, recording a 10.95 ERA over that stretch. He also allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings his last time out on Tuesday in a game that was postponed by bad weather and the statistics wiped out.
Bundy said his struggles had nothing to do with returning from injury, and more to do with poor fastball command.
“I felt great,” Bundy said of Sunday’s outing. “It seemed like me and [catcher Austin Wynns] were on the same page today and fastball command was where it all started. Obviously, not very good on those three homers.”
It still marked the third straight start — including Tuesday’s statistically wiped-out rainout — in which Bundy has allowed three homers.
On Sunday, Bundy showed he could have success despite that by getting ahead of hitters. He threw 22 of 27 first-pitch strikes, including 14 of 16 with his four-seam fastball. Sunday’s game was also his first outing without allowing a walk since May 29, a span of eight starts.
“I was just locating the fastball a little better, more on the edges of the plate and not over the middle of the plate,” Bundy said.
Bundy also struck out seven on the afternoon, including five swinging and four on his slider.
Two of the three homers he allowed were off the bat of Rays designated hitter C.J. Cron, who led off the second inning with a home run and hit his second with two outs in the fourth. Rookie first baseman Jake Bauers also homered off Bundy with two outs in the sixth.
While Bundy benefited from catcher Austin Wynns throwing out Joey Wendle trying to steal second base to end the first inning, he also overcame a pair of mid-inning fielding errors.
With the Orioles up 5-3 in the fifth inning, Mallex Smithreached base with one out on second baseman Jonathan Schoop’s fielding error, but Bundy struck out Carlos Gómez, getting him to swing through a slider for strike three, and ended a nine-pitch at bat by striking out Willy Adames swinging on a 3-2 fastball.
In the seventh inning, shortstop Tim Beckham’s throwing error attempting to turn a double play put a runner on second with one out, but Bundy induced a flyout from Smith and got Gómez to weakly ground out to Wynns to end the inning and Bundy’s outing at 92 pitches. Dylan Bundy Atlanta-area native Beckham says ‘Chipper was the man’: Growing up outside Atlanta, Beckham grew up as a fan of former Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who is one of six players being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
“Chipper was the man,” said Beckham, a Griffin, Ga., native. “He was someone who left it out there every game. He played the game hard and that’s what you look for in leaders and that’s what you look for in guys that are going to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. I was always impressed and excited and thrilled to watch Chipper play.” Gentry’s rehab delayed: Outfielder Craig Gentry will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment at Low-A Delmarva on Monday as was originally planned, Showalter said.
Gentry, who has been in the disabled list with a rib injury since June 24, will receive additional tests to assure his injury has been healed. Lee removed from 40-man roster: The Orioles outrighted left-handed pitcher Chris Lee, who had just returned from a shoulder injury that kept him out for nearly two months, to Double-A Bowie, removing him from the organization’s 40-man roster after he cleared outright waivers.
Lee was activated from the minor league disabled list Friday after three one-inning rehab outings in the Gulf Coast League, but didn’t make an appearance for Triple-A Norfolk.
Lee, 25, has spent most of the season on the DL. He suffered an oblique injury during spring training, opening the season on the minor league DL and wasn’t activated until May 4. The Orioles’ 40-man roster is now at 38. Wilkerson update: Utility man Steve Wilkerson is scheduled to begin his minor league rehab assignment Wednesday at High-A Frederick.