Bundy solid, but early innings still a hurdle

BALTIMORE -- As up-and-down a season as it’s been for Dylan Bundy, there’s been one constant -- and it isn’t a particularly kind one. The righty has found little respite in the early innings this year. With two more first-inning runs allowed in Friday night’s 3-2 loss to the Astros at Oriole Park, Bundy has now given up 16 runs in the opening frame across 22 starts this year, which equates to a 6.55 ERA.

In fairness, seven of those runs allowed came in one start against Tampa Bay back on July 12, and also in fairness, the sixth inning has not been kind either, with an 11.00 ERA in that frame. But he's only pitched the sixth inning nine times vs. 22 first innings; the sixth-inning struggles come when batters get to see him a couple of times through the order, and they come less frequently because of the struggles earlier on.

“Most good pitchers, if you’re going to get to them, you're going to get to them early,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “He didn’t have the command he would have liked the first couple innings, [but] then [he] settled in and did a great job.”

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But doubly positive in a game where Bundy fought back was that the homer-prone righty -- and the entire team, for that matter -- finally put an end to the miserable streak of 12 straight games giving up at least two homers and 14 straight giving up at least one. It was also a welcome change from being bombarded by the Yankees for three days.

“That was nice to see,” Hyde chuckled.

But still, the Astros got to Bundy early. Not only with the run-scoring hits, but especially with the number of pitches they made him throw. Bundy tossed 55 pitches in the first two innings, compared with 47 in his last four.

Managers around the league have turned to openers to try and shake up some of those early struggles for their pitchers. The Orioles instituted it themselves at times, but never with Bundy.

“I want him to start,” Hyde said. “I feel like a lot of his struggles, especially the first half of the year, were more fifth and six innings, kind of when he got to that 90-pitch range, and we didn't do a very good job of limiting damage for him coming out of the bullpen.”

Which highlights the main concern for trying the opener more. The Orioles just don’t have many options for that role.

Regardless, Bundy said he hasn’t been able to find the put-away pitches early, which in turn forbids him the length he seeks. The daunting Astros lineup -- which, on Friday night, featured just one batting average under .270 -- scored both its early runs during at-bats when Bundy had two strikes.

Bundy chalked it up to “hitting really good pitches. At least two of them were good pitches that they hit, and they were able to get two RBIs off that.”

As the Orioles ended their streak on the wrong end of the long ball, they mashed two of their own -- one from Stevie Wilkerson and one from Jace Peterson.

But it wasn’t enough to top former Oriole Wade Miley. The southpaw owns a 2.99 ERA with Houston this year after recording a 5.76 ERA across 43 starts with Baltimore in ’16 and ’17.

“We played a good baseball game,” Hyde said. “Lost 3-2 against a tough team. We had our opportunities to tie it and take the lead late in the game and just didn't get the big hit, but I thought we played well.”

There was one other brief moment of positivity. Chris Davis came on to pinch-hit -- and later take over at first base -- in the seventh inning just two days after a scuffle in the dugout with manager Brandon Hyde, showing the beef between the two had indeed been put behind them. The first baseman walked to the plate to a show of mostly positive reactions from the 19,407 in attendance before striking out and returning to a smattering of boos. Davis also lined out to end the game.