Bundy sets infamous record - the ugly facts of his no-out, four-homer start - BaltimoreBaseball.com
Dan Connolly

Bundy sets infamous record — the ugly facts of his no-out, four-homer start

Dylan Bundy is alone in infamy after Tuesday’s start.

He has surpassed every major league pitcher in history in one dubious stat. And he has bested Kurt Birkins and Russ Ortiz in another.

Yes, it has gotten that bad in Birdland.

You’ve been warned. Read carefully.

Bundy faced seven Kansas City Royals in his start Tuesday night. He retired none of them. Not one out.

He also allowed four homers – marking the first time in modern baseball history that a pitcher has allowed four homers without retiring a batter.

Starter, reliever, it doesn’t matter – no one has ever given up four bombs in one game without getting at least one out, dating back to 1908, the beginning of Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index.

So, Bundy is in the history books alone.

Here’s what happened:

After a Jon Jay single, Bundy allowed a two-run homer to Jorge Soler, a solo shot to Mike Moustakas and another solo homer to Salvador Perez. He then walked Lucas Duda and Whit Merrifield before surrendering his historic fourth homer to Alex Gordon.

He was then pulled by manager Buck Showalter after just 28 pitches (13 for strikes).

Bundy’s line: 0IP, 5H, 7ER, 2BB, 0K, 4HRs. His ERA jumped from 3.76 to 5.31.

Here are some more infamous factoids to consider:

Bundy holds the record, but 10 pitchers – three starters – have allowed three homers without recording an out since 1908. Two were Orioles: Pedro Viola in the seventh inning of a game in 2011 and Mike Trombley in the eighth in 2000. Both were against the Boston Red Sox.

Tuesday marked the 32nd time an Oriole starter has allowed at least one earned run without recording at least one out in an outing. The most recent was lefty Kurt Birkins on Sept. 15, 2007. He gave up six earned runs at Toronto in that start. The previous year it occurred at Tampa Bay, with Orioles starter Russ Ortiz yielding six runs without an out. Before that, you’d have to go back to Anthony Telford in 1990 – he, too, gave up six runs without an out.

The seven runs yielded by Bundy last night ties the Orioles record for a no-out start. Right-hander Joe Coleman also gave up seven runs without registering an out in an 11-3 loss at Cleveland on July 6, 1954 – the Orioles’ inaugural season. Coleman gave up five hits, two walks and one homer.

Bundy is in some good franchise company as far as allowing earned runs without retiring a batter in a start. World Series hero Scott McGregor did it the most times – 4 – as an Oriole, and Dave McNally, Dennis Martinez and Mike Cuellar all did it twice, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

The most runs ever allowed in major league history without an out occurred on Aug. 18, 1951 when Detroit reliever Frank Borowy permitted nine runs to the St. Louis Browns. Two starters have allowed eight runs in a no-out first inning: Cincinnati’s Paul Wilson (2005) and Oakland’s Blake Stein (1998).

One last thing: Bundy’s -19 Game Score is the worst since Oakland’s Mike Oquist had a -21 on Aug 3, 1998 against the New York Yankees. Oquist allowed 14 earned runs in five innings in that game.

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