Dylan Bundy, who’s had a bit of a rough spring, pitched four strong innings this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. Unfortunately Bundy pitched five innings this afternoon against Minnesota. He pitched better than his line score indicates, but the fifth inning counts towards his stats. Bundy’s line: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4, R, 1 B, 4, K.
Bundy’s slider was on point today, although he left a couple of them up in that fifth inning. He admitted to MASN television after he came out that he only threw one or two curves. That tells you that Bundy’s objective today was to hit on his sliders. And for the most part he did.
The O’s got on the board early this afternoon in what ended up being an offensive-minded game. Cedric Mullins smacked a solo home run leading off. You certainly take runs however they come, but obviously the nature of the lead off spot is such that you want the guy to get on base. In essence you want the lead off man to set the table. But Mullins decided to eat the meal this afternoon – and as I said, you take what you can get!
Minnesota would even the score at one witty an RBI-single in the third, but Bundy was able to limit the damage. But the O’s got the lead back one inning later. Austin Hays‘ RBI-double Gabe them a 2-1 lead, and it was run to 3-1 on an RBI-groundout by Jace Peterson later in the year inning.
But as I said earlier, the fifth inning is what did Bundy in. Or more realistically that’s when he started to tire. He gave up an RBI- single to Reed, and then a two-RBI double to Cave. When the smoke cleared, the O’s trailed 4-3.
However as I said, this was an offensive game. The Birds got right back on it in the last of the fifth, tying the game at four on an RBI-single by Christopher Bostick. Minnesota would briefly re-take the lead in the sixth on a solo homer, however Jace Peterson wasn’t done for the day at that point. He smacked a two-run homer in the last of the sixth to give the O’s the lead back at 6-5.
In terms of winning or losing the game however, the Orioles’ luck eventually ran out. Minnesota would add RBI-singles in the seventh and the ninth, to take this one 7-6. Again folks, wins and losses don’t matter – yet.
Another bright spot today for the Orioles was first baseman Chris Davis, who went 1-for-2 on the day. That one hit was against the shift however, which is what fans have been waiting to see Davis try to do for some time. He also drew a walk in his first at-bat.
The story of the day however was Bundy, who as I said looked very good through four innings. If he’s only going to be able to go four however, that’s going to be a problem. However the situation isn’t as dire as perhaps I’m making it out to be. Bundy said after his outing that he still has two spring appearances left to make. I would simply say that those two appearances are very important – both for crispness, and for longevity in the games.
The Orioles will take on Minnesota again tomorrow, this time at CenturySports Park in Fort Myers. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 