Orioles beat Red Sox, 2-0; Bundy twirls another gem in win

It was a perfect night for baseball at Camden Yards as the Orioles sent Dylan Bundy to the mound to take on the Red Sox. If you haven’t heard, this Baltimore baseball team is pretty darn good — with tonight’s win, the Birds advance to 11-4 at the top of the AL East.

Below, the winning details of the Friday night victory over the always pesky Red Sox.

The recap

Bundy was matched up with left-hander Drew Pomeranz on the night and both traded scoreless innings to kick off the night’s action in the first. In the second, though, Bundy faced his first jam of the game.

In the top of the inning, Hanley Ramirez and Jackie Bradley Jr. notched back-to-back singles with no outs, setting up Pablo Sandoval for the game’s first opportunity. Bundy proceeded to blow a fastball by him for a strikeout, an at-bat followed by a Christian Vázquez double play ground out. It was a laborious start for Bundy, but a clean one nonetheless.

Both teams threatened in their next opportunities, but neither capitalized. Through three innings, Bundy had induced a trio of double plays, one in each inning. That’s one way to get outs against a potent lineup!

The first run of the ballgame crossed the plate in the bottom of the third thanks to some small-ball from the top of the lineup. With one out, Craig Gentry ripped a double down the line for his third hit of the year. A Pomeranz wild pitch advanced him to third and a line drive up the middle from Adam Jones made it 1-0 Orioles.

For the next few innings, Bundy was masterful yet again. He effectively mowed down the Boston lineup, with everything working as it has been throughout the start of the season — against the Red Sox one through nine, he sure looked like the ace Baltimore has been waiting on for quite some time.

In the bottom of the fifth, Manny Machado did Manny Machado things. He smoked a hard-hit HR to left to put the home team up 2-0 off of a belt-high fastball 87 MPH fastball that was crushed. His two hits on the night upped his season average to .200 — baby steps!

The next frame, Bundy faced men on first and second with none out and the heart of the lineup up to bat — but, in perhaps the biggest moment of the game, the bulldog in Bundy showed up in the clutch.

After Andrew Benintendi flied out to Trumbo in left, Bundy brilliantly pitched Mookie Betts for out number two. And on his 89th pitch of the night, the right-hander induced a Mitch Moreland pop-out to Manny Machado to end the threat.

After a brilliant seventh inning in which he retired Ramirez, Bradley Jr. and Sandoval consecutively, Bundy allowed a 3-2 single to Vázquez to start the eighth. Donnie Hart then got the call after Bundy’s exit, and that’s exactly when things got interesting.

The left-hander walked number-nine hitter Chris Young, giving the top of the Boston lineup the opportunity to have the go-ahead run at the dish.

Following a Dustin Pedroia 3-2 fly-ball out to move the lead runner to third with an out, Hart beautifully painted the inside corner with two perfect sinkers to put Benintendi down on strikes. Then with two outs, Showalter made the move to Mychal Givens to end the threat against Betts.

Givens jammed Boston’s number three bat, pounding a 96 MPH fastball on the outside corner to get a weak pop-out to wrap up the top of the eighth.

Score that yet another win for the deep bullpen!

Bundy’s final line: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K. His season ERA is now at 1.37.

A strange play happened in the eighth inning after a ground ball from the bat of Trumbo. With Machado running from first, Pedroia fielded the ball at second base and looked to catch a spike from Machado on the slide. It seemed harmless, but Pedroia had to be helped off the field with a pair of trainers and exited the game walking very gingerly.

At the same time, Showalter emerged from the dugout to challenge that Machado actually beat the initial throw — which he didn't. So in the end, Trumbo ended up on first with an out, but Pedroia left the diamond and didn’t return.

It should be noted that Machado’s slide appeared to be perfectly legal, but some on Twitter, even a Boston beat writer, felt retaliation may be on its way. Again, it didn’t look malicious — but this is Orioles/Red Sox, and it is Manny Machado, so keep that in mind this weekend.

After Chris Davis and Welington Castillo hit the ball hard but couldn’t find unoccupied grass, Brad Brach couldn’t throw one pitch in the ninth before Red Sox third-base coach Brian Butterfield was tossed from the game. It’s unclear what he was arguing about, but it’s a pretty safe guess that it was regarding the Machado slide.

He hit the clubhouse early and might’ve added a bit more intrigue to the storyline, but Brach didn’t blink after the extended time before his appearance.

He retired the side — the middle of the lineup — and wrapped up the shutout. If you’re counting, Orioles pitching has allowed one run in the last 32 innings.

Not a bad Friday night at Camden Yards, would you say?