Bundy falters, Orioles’ rally falls short in 10-7 loss to Angels

The night started out promising enough for the Orioles. They were able to scratch a run across in the first inning, something we have hardly seen this year. Craig Gentry had a hustle triple with one out, and Manny Machado was able to drive him in on a sacrifice fly, 1-0 Orioles. After putting a quick run on the board, the team’s best pitcher, Dylan Bundy, was ready to take the mound in the bottom of the first. Sounds promising, right? It didn’t go well from there.

Dylan Bundy was unable to bounce back from his poor start last time out, when he gave up 8 runs (7 earned) and took a loss. In that game against the Rays, Bundy went 4.2 innings, giving up 11 hits, including two home runs. The Orioles were hoping that Bundy could reverse the recent trend, but he would be facing a difficult opponent for that. In his career against Angels before tonight, Bundy had a 6.48 career ERA in 8.1 innings.

The Angels started out with a pair of solo home runs in the bottom half of the first. Mike Trout, fresh off his three intentional walks the night before, absolutely crushed a home run to left field. Two batters later, and one pitch after getting buzzed high and inside, Albert Pujols hit a solo home run just over the fence in left field. 2-1 Angels. Pujols added a double later in the game, bringing his career hit count to 2,998.

In the fourth inning, Shohei Ohtani reached on an error by first baseman Chris Davis with one out. Andrelton Simmons then doubled to left, scoring Ohtani and advancing to third on a throwing error by Machado. Zack Cozart followed with an RBI groundout. 4-1 Angels.

The Angels added three more runs in the fifth inning on a three run home run by Justin Upton that traveled 409 feet to left field, 7-1 Angels. It was Bundy’s third home run allowed on the night.

Bundy’s final pitching line was 4.1 innings, seven hits, seven runs (five earned), one walk, four strikeouts, and three home runs allowed. He threw 90 pitches, including 63 strikes. Bundy came into the game with a 2.97 ERA. When he left the game his ERA stood at 3.76.

Mike Wright and Pedro Araujo would provide mop-up duty for the rest of the evening. Wright came on in the fifth and went 1.2 innings, giving up two runs on one hit and three walks, with two strikeouts. Araujo pitched two innings and allowed one run. With three more runs over the last three innings, the score was 10-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

The Orioles offense was held scoreless between the second and eighth innings. Left hander Andrew Heaney was in control from the start for the Angels. He would finish the night with the win, pitching six innings of one run ball with five hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Heaney came into the game with a 7.59 career ERA against the Orioles in 10.2 innings with a 1.69 WHIP.

There were some positive signs from the Orioles offense in this game. Mark Trumbo got hit first hit of the year, a sharp line drive single to left field in the second inning. He added another one later in the game, a line drive single to right field in the ninth. He would finish the night two for four, leaving his batting average at .250.

On the plus side, Chris Davis is showing signs of heating up at the plate. He hit the ball to the opposite field three times tonight, one for a single into left, one for a hard hit ground ball out to the shortstop, and one for a line drive single to left center. There was also a strikeout wedged in there somewhere.

The broadcast referenced Davis working on his swing approach recently, which involves trying to hit down on the ball and drive it the other way. Generally, his swing looked a bit more compact and straight to the ball. Davis finished the night two for four with one RBI and one strikeout, raising his batting average to .179 on the year.

In the eighth inning, the Orioles offense stirred from its mid-game slumber. It started with back to back walks to Engelb Vielma and Trey Mancini. Then Craig Gentry moved the runners over with a ground ball out, and Machado followed with an RBI groundout, 10-2 Angels.

The Orioles made some serious noise in the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an eight run deficit.

The inning started with back to back singles by Valencia and Trumbo. Chris Davis followed with an RBI single on a hard hit line drive to left center field, 10-3. Anthony Santander, pinch hitting for catcher Caleb Joseph, walked to load the bases. Jace Peterson came up to hit for Vielma and promptly roped a bases clearing triple down the right field line. All of a sudden, it was 10-6. Mancini tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly to deep center, 10-7.

But the fun stopped there. Jim Johnson came into the game for the Angels and retired Machado and Adam Jones after a Pedro Alvarez pinch hit single, and it was over.

The Orioles will look to avoid a sweep in the final game of the series against the Angels tomorrow at 10:05 PM. Chris Tillman (1-4, 7.03 ERA) will oppose Jaime Barria (1-1, 3.86 ERA).