Orioles win 6-5: Bundy solid again, Mancini drives in three, O’Day gets the save

The Orioles clinched another series by beating the White Sox 6-5 at Camden Yards on Saturday night. Trey Mancini paced the offense with three RBI while Dylan Bundy threw six solid innings and Darren O’Day looked nearly un-hittable out of the bullpen.

Smoking hot Dylan-on-Dylan action

Two Dylans faced-off in this game’s pitching matchup, the Orioles Dylan Bundy and the White Sox’ Dylan Covey. It’s fair to say that Chicago’s hurler had the much tougher night of work.

In the bottom of the first inning, Covey loaded the bases right away with back-to-back-to-back singles from Seth Smith, Adam Jones and Manny Machado. Excellent! He did manage to strike out Chris Davis. But then, with Mark Trumbo hitting, Covey balked in Smith from third base.

It was an odd moment that saw Covey step towards third base as if attempting a pick-off move, but he didn’t actually throw the ball. A few years ago, that would have been legal, but a recent rule change outlawed it.

Moments later, Trumbo singled anyway, scoring Jones from third to make it a 2-0 game early on. Machado moved to third base on the hit, giving the O’s runners on the corners with one out.

Trey Mancini, who was given a rare start against a right-handed pitcher, then laced a ground ball down the third-base line past Todd Frazier for a double to score Machado and make it 3-0. Ryan Flaherty followed with a six-pitch walk to load the bases.

It looked the Orioles had a chance to really pile on the runs, but a shallow fly out by J.J. Hardy and a ground out from Caleb Joseph extinguished the rally. Even so, it was an impressive start for the bats following a 45-minute rain delay prioe to first pitch.

Dongs double the scoring

Covey would continue to struggle, though none of his innings came close to the trouble he had in the opening frame. In the bottom of the second, Machado padded the Orioles lead by smacking a line drive home run to left-center field.

The round-tripper barely scraped over the wall, but it was clobbered. Statcast reported it as having a 106-mph exit velocity, and it needed every bit of it. Most important of all, it allowed Manny to trot around the bases with his ridiculously orange cleats.

Mancini joined the dong party in the fifth inning. Following a Trumbo single, the rookie launched a curveball into the left field bleachers. It was a high-arching fly ball that provided the O’s with what turned out to be some valuable insurance runs.

The home run put an end to Covey’s outing. His final line: four innings, six runs on 10 hits, one walk and three strikeouts. His ERA for the season now sits at 8.28. Ew.

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The Orioles starter turned in one of his “bulldog” performances. He was far from lights out on the mound, but he competed, fought through a few jams, and put the team in a good position to win the game.

Bundy breezed through the first three innings with little issue. He faced just 10 hitters and allowed one hit. The fourth was a struggle as he threw 25 pitches and allowed two hits, but escaped without allowing a run.

The fifth inning is where the right-hander ran into his most trouble. It took “just” 23 pitches, but resulted in a lot more damage.

Omar Navarez earned a one-out walk and then moved to third on a Yolmer Sanchez double. But the double should have been a single, but Mancini played it into a double. It was a fly ball that Trey dove for, and it dribbled past him. Odds are a more seasoned outfielder handles it a little better, but he hits dongs so we will forgive him...for now.

A Melky Cabrera sacrifice fly brought Navarez home to make the score 4-1 at the time. Moments later, Leury Garcia singled up the middle to cut it to a 4-2 deficit and then Bundy got Jose Abreu to line out to end the inning.

It was clear that Bundy was running out of gas on the hill. He was breathing heavy and sweating an awful lot, although he sweats a lot no matter what. Even still, he was reaching his limit. But he returned for the sixth inning and surrendered a two-out, solo home run to Cody Asche, but thanks to the Mancini home run it became just a 6-3 game.

Bundy’s final line: six innings, three runs, six hits, one walk, three strikeouts. It’s another “quality start”, but it wasn’t a dominant outing. He seemed to use his change-up a bit more and stayed away from the cutter, but it worked. If this turns out to be Bundy on an “off” night, then this is shaping up to be a heck of a season.

Bullpen battle

After Covey was removed from the game, the White Sox relievers shut down the Orioles hitters. Chris Beck threw three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out two and walking one. And then hard-throwing Tommy Kahnle had a flawless eighth inning where he struck out two.

For the O’s, Donnie Hart had a tidy little seventh inning, but Mychal Givens had some issues in the eighth. Garcia led off with a single and then Abreu smacked a line drive off of the the left field foul pole, making it a cozy 6-5 scoreline with still no outs recorded.

Givens bared down to get the next two batters, but then hit Asche on the foot with a fastball. The very next pitch, he forced Tim Anderson to ground out with a dribbler back to the mound.

With Zach Britton back on the disabled list and Brad Brach having pitched in the last two games, the save opportunity fell to Darren O’Day. The submariner was fantastic, getting an easy 1-2-3 inning and striking out two in the process to wrap up a 6-5 win for the O’s and securing yet another series victory.