BALTIMORE -- The ways things have been going for the Orioles, the first inning of Friday's game -- in which the Indians loaded the bases -- seemed like the latest costly hiccup.
"That could have got away from him," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of starter Dylan Bundy's opening frame. "We've had some tough times here recently, obviously, and the game starts like that and a popup or two we don't catch. It's just human nature to have that vibe get kind of negative if you let it."
But Bundy never wavered. A bright spot despite Baltimore's frustratingly slow start, the righty held the Tribe to one run and finally was rewarded for his efforts, picking up his first win of the season in the O's 3-1 series-opening victory.

"Yeah, feels good, thank you," Bundy said of putting the "W" by his name. "Just trying to limit the damage there [in the first]. Could have been a lot worse and put us in a hole there, but was able to get out of it and continue on throughout the game."
Bundy -- who allowed his only run on a hit-by-pitch in the first -- struck out nine over six innings to help the Orioles snap a six-game skid. The righty, who has a team-leading 1.42 ERA in five starts, couldn't have taken the mound at a better time.
Coming off a winless two-city road trip, Friday's victory was just the second in 10 games for the O's (6-14), who are desperate to get things going as they risk being buried early in the American League East standings.

"To beat a really good pitcher [in Trevor Bauer] and one of the top four teams in the American League going in, that's tough to go through that lineup and hold them to one run," Showalter said.
"We talked in the advance meeting, 'Here's an opportunity.' Those are the type of people we have to beat to get where we want to go."

Tied at 1, Trey Mancini's two-run double into left-center field put the O's up for good in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Chance Sisco and Luis Sardinas. Mancini would later exit the game after slamming his right knee into the base of the left-field wall during an unsuccessful attempt at a diving catch.
• Mancini day to day with knee injury
Red-hot Manny Machado homered for the third time in two days with a solo blast off Bauer in the fourth. But it was Bundy who really set the tone, rebounding from a rocky first inning and exiting after striking out the side in a pitching clinic in the sixth.
"It's a huge win," Machado said. "You've got to win after losing six [straight] against a good team like Cleveland. Just felt good. Dylan threw the heck out of the ball today and we gave him some runs to help him out with it, so you know, hopefully we can ride from this and continue doing what we have to do."

Bundy got into trouble in the first after a pair of one-out singles and walk loaded the bases. He grazed Edwin Encarnacion's elbow to give the Tribe a 1-0 lead but held them from there, getting a shallow popup before striking out Roberto Perez to end the frame.
Cleveland would muster up just three hits off Bundy the rest of the evening. The righty has allowed just five earned runs over his first 31 2/3 innings, striking out 40 and walking eight.
Righty Richard Bleier, who has become arguably the team's most reliable reliever, tossed two scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 0.61.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Manny flashes the leather: Machado made a diving stop on Jose Ramirez's two-out chopper up the middle in the top of the seventh, flipping the ball from his stomach over to second base to get the out and prevent a run.
Video: CLE@BAL: Machado lays out, flips to save a run
"It's just reaction. It's all reaction. I'll probably look back and go see it on the MLB app, but just trying to make plays for my team, trying to make out," Machado said. " At the end of the day it's about staying in the zone, staying under control and being able to make that good throw to second base and knowing who is running at the same time, because I could have gotten up and thrown. It was a heckuva play, for sure." More >

HE SAID IT
"I'm just glad that I had front-row seats to that play. [I] turned around like, 'Aw, that ball's up the middle.' [And then was] like, 'Oh wow, that was an incredible play.' Yeah, a lot of things are definitely going my way, I would say."
-- Bleier, on Machado's seventh-inning snag
UP NEXT
Chris Tillman will get the ball on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. ET looking to get back on track. The righty, coming off a poor 2017, is 0-3 with an 11.91 ERA on the season. He'll be opposed by Indians righty Mike Clevinger.