Bundy lasts one inning in the Orioles’ ugly 16-4 loss to the Rays

Dylan Bundy did not have it tonight. It started with a Tommy Pham solo home run onto the flag court in right and it just went on and on from there. The O’s right-hander labored through 37 pitches en route to surrendering eight hits and seven runs. And that was just the first inning.

The Orioles had no response in the bottom half of the first, going down 1-2-3 in order against Yonny Chirinos on a strikeout, a ground out and a fly out.

Bundy would not return for the second. It’s tough to see your starter in game one of a four game series — which includes a doubleheader tomorrow — only last one inning. That’s a harbinger of bad things to come in this series for an already suspect Orioles bullpen.

In just one inning of work, Bundy’s ERA went from 4.65 to 5.28 tonight.

Gabriel Ynoa got the call to the mound in the second and he retired the first batter he faced, Kevin Kiermaier, on a nifty play by Trey Mancini to catch a sinking liner. Then Yandy Diaz singled and Nate Lowe blasted a two-run homer to the Orioles bullpen in left center. 9-0, Rays.

After two innings, Ynoa’s pitch count was at 33 pitches; a good pace to continue eating up innings in hopes of sparing the rest of the bullpen.

In the bottom of the third, Rio Ruiz got a two-out triple on a failed diving catch by Pham in left. It was the first hit of the night off of Chirinos. Jonathan Villar followed with a single to score Ruiz for the Orioles’ first run. 9-1, Rays.

The Birds got into more trouble in fourth when an error by Villar and a single to right put runners on the corners with no outs. Joey Wendle grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, allowing the runner from third to score and give Tampa a 10-1 lead. The run went down as unearned.

Renato Nunez got the Orioles’ second run of the night with a solo homer to left. He reached across the plate for a pitch low and away and managed to pull it in the air with enough juice to leave the park. 10-2, Rays. It was Nunez’s 21st home run of the year and he currently leads the Orioles in that category. The next closest player is Mancini with 17 round-trippers.

In the top of the sixth, Kiermaier singled to right and advanced to second. Then Diaz grounded to shortstop and Villar tried to get the lead runner at third but threw the ball past Ruiz, allowing Kiermaier to score. Diaz was safe at first on the play.

The bleeding got worse in the seventh, when Ynoa allowed five more runs. Pham had an RBI infield single, Kiermaier had a two-run double, Lowe had an RBI single and Asher Wojciechowski allowed a run to score on a wild pitch. Even though two runs scored on Woj’s watch, they were runners inherited from Ynoa. Despite eating up 5.1 innings, Ynoa allowed 10 hits, nine runs (seven earned), one walk and one strikeout.

On the other side, Chirinos threw a gem for the Rays, going seven strong innings and only giving up two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He lowered his ERA to 3.11.

Then a familiar sight happened in the top of the ninth. An Orioles position player took the mound. We hadn’t seen it in a awhile — since the beginning of the season in fact. Stevie Wilkerson had the honors tonight and he retired the side on three straight fly balls.

The Birds made a little noise in the ninth, starting things off with back to back walks to Keon Broxton and Chance Sisco. Then Nunez doubled to left, scoring Broxton and moving Sisco to third. Anthony Santander struck out and Chris Davis followed with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Sisco. But that was as close as the Orioles would get, as Hanser Alberto lined out to Diaz at third to end the game. 16-4, Rays.

Davis got further away from his quest to reach a .200 batting average, going 0-for-3 to lower his average to .187. Nunez was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and two RBI. Despite giving up 16 runs on 20 hits, the Orioles’ pitching staff only allowed two home runs all night. The team used four pitchers and one position player on the mound.

On to Saturday, where the Orioles will have to face the Rays twice in one day while we hope for better all-around play to avoid another embarrassing result.