FREE ARTICLE
BALTIMORE—Dylan Bundy was removed from Saturday’s game after five innings and 80 pitches, the fewest he has thrown this season. Manager Brandon Hyde wasn’t concerned about pitch count, but velocity.
Bundy allowed three runs on four hits. The three runs came on two home runs by Albert Pujols. He walked two, struck out two, and threw two wild pitches in the Orioles’ 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on a rainy Saturday.
The two homers were the 10th and 11th Bundy has allowed. His relatively short outing comes a week after his best of the season, when he threw 7 1/3 innings, more than any Orioles starter. He pitched scoreless ball against Tampa Bay, allowing only three hits.
Hyde has been conservative with pitch counts, but this time Hyde noticed Bundy’s velocity on his fastball had dropped to 87 mph in the fifth. He sent pitching coach Doug Brocail to the mound to check on Bundy. Hyde also saw the command faltering.
“That’s why we took him out there,” Hyde said. “It just didn’t look right.”
Bundy said he didn’t realize his velocity was down.
“Was it? I didn’t look at the velo,” Bundy said. “But, yeah, I noticed I was getting underneath the ball a little bit and leaving a lot of fastballs up way out of the zone. That’s kind of the first thing you notice.”
Bundy said there is nothing wrong with him.
“Physically, I’m fine,” he said. “I feel like I kind of had to battle the whole game with off-speed pitches, kind of pitching behind in the count.”
As tracked by Statcast, Bundy averaged a career-low 89.8 mph on his fastball.
“I wasn’t worried about it,” Bundy said. “I didn’t look up there and see a problem. So, I might look at a few mechanical things. But overall my arm feels great, so I’ll just keep chucking it.”
Bundy never looks forward to coming out of a game.
“When they say they’re taking the ball, they take the ball,” Bundy said. “ I tried to keep the team in the game as long as I could. And, unfortunately, I didn’t get to go out there for another one.”
The Orioles’ only scoring came in the first on a two-run home run by Dwight Smith Jr., his seventh, and it temporarily tied the score at 2.
After Bundy left, Gabriel Ynoa allowed three runs in the sixth in a strange inning that featured runs scoring on consecutive fielder’s choices.
Los Angeles had a chance to pull away, but Branden Kline struck out Mike Trout with the bases loaded to end the inning. Jimmy Yacabonis, who had been called up from Norfolk before the game, gave up another run in the ninth.
The Orioles were held scoreless after the first. In the final five innings, four Los Angeles relievers yielded just four hits.
“They had their bullpen ready and they have some good arms, and they rely heavily on those guys,” Hyde said. “Their starters don’t go very deep, so those guys have been pitching well for them. We just didn’t get to their ‘pen. They got to our ‘pen.
“I’m just looking for guys to step up out of the ‘pen and be able to pitch in the sixth through eighth innings with the score close. It’s pretty open for who wants to step up and be a guy.”
Pujols making history: Pujols hit two home runs, a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the fourth. Pujols has 59 multi-home run games, and 641 in his career, 19 behind Willie Mays for fifth on the all-time homer list.
“He got me twice today,” Bundy said. “You can’t make a mistake to him, and I missed my spot on both pitches. Just a little bit on the first one. But the second one, I just lost command there and missed my spot by about a foot and a half.”
This week, Pujols became the third player in baseball history with more than 2,000 RBIs, and his 3,110 hits tie him with Dave Winfield for 22nd on the all-time hit list.
Bleier pitches again: Richard Bleier threw a shutout inning for Double-A Bowie, allowing a hit, and striking out one. He threw 12 pitches, 10 strikes. It follows his scoreless inning on Friday.
Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit…
Two years ago, Adley Rutschman played his first major league game, and the Orioles have…
Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit…
What happened? Gunnar Henderson set the tone by leading off the bottom of the first…
Heston Kjerstad hit a 12th-inning grand slam to give Triple-A Norfolk a 5-3 win over…
Between 2012 and 2016, Steve Pearce had four stints as an Orioles' outfielder and even…
View Comments
The best comment is no comment... just sayin...
Bundys arm was never fine after TJ surgery. Sad to see the only move that was made today was sending Phillips’s down for Yaco. Both of them have looked bad lately. It’s hard to like this team now. Just imagine if we called up Sisco to catch and Mountcastle to DH and a few weeks Hays in centerfield how much more exciting and I really feel competitive this team would be even with our three horrible starters
I knew this season was a wash as far as wins and losses went, but was looking forward to watching the youth get some experience so that there would at least be light at the end of the tunnel. And to some extent there have been flashes of that-Smith, Alberto, Severino, etc, even Ruiz at times to go along with the more established Mancini and Villar. IF Davis could continue to be halfway productive the rest of the way there are some bright spots on that side of the equation. But the pitching? Beyond awful. No consistency at all so that the Os are out of many games by the 5th inning, just like last year.
I totally agree that watching Sisco, Mountcastle, and Hays (at a minimum-there are others Id like to see sooner rather than later) would change things a little. I keep wondering why the Orioles don't move Sisco back to an infield position-he was a shortstop when they drafted him-and forget the whole catching experiment, especially if they draft the OSU catcher next month. If Sisco was once a shortstop he could probably play third.
I do like Hyde's approach so far but boy he must be frustrated with what he has available coming out of the bullpen.
I agree with your call ups but i also think there is some of the they weren’t our guys thing that goes on with the new GM . These guys had good spring and they got sent down for more seasoning. I understand that to a point. Now they are hitting better and some are deserving of a call up. I think one that is getting pushed further down the depth chart is DJ Stewart. He definitely hits better than Rickard,.. Why not give some of them a chance. Some guys play better when they are in the majors
Michael, Stewart doesn't play center field, and Smith in left and Mancini in right seem to be doing well. I think we'll see Stewart later in the season.
I'm not sure they'd be any more competitive with those changes right now but it would certainly make things more interesting. I'm with you on your suggested callups BHoffman (or is it Bruce?) , but let's not forget Santander.
I think it takes some time for players to adjust and acclimate each time they step up a level of play. Why not let these guys get used to the bigs during this "lost" year instead of next or even later?
Agree on Santander.Everyone looking for Hays, Mountcastle, and Sisco but forgetting Santander.I think he can be a Dwight Smith type guy.
Boog it’s Bruce and Sisco just hit a two run shot. Elias keeping him at Norfolk when we need a hitting catcher doesn’t sit well with me. As for Santlander he hits a homer on his one day here and is sent down. I know you said good things about Joey Rickard but he doesn’t belong on this club anymore
Totally agree with the 3B/SS deal, IF he’s an athlete he could make the change, we’ve had quite a few play 3B or SS well, embrace the change...
BJ Surhoff was drafted number one as a catcher by Milwaukee and transitioned to third base (later left field). If Cisco can hit, it might be time for the same thing with him.
Craig Biggio had a pretty good career switching positions as well....
Ditto for Bryce Harper (immediately) and Craig Biggio after a few years, and eventually Joe Mauer too. Really good hitters probably shouldn’t spend their careers squatting behind home plate.
Is is possible that the team is waiting for Memorial Day to make any of the changes that we all are anticipating. Rich could correct me but it seems that Memorial Day is one of those MLB benchmarks where teams take a look at where they are after the first 2 months of the season and assess what they need to do for the next 2 months.
One of the top rules for the optimist is "When all else fails, blame the weather." :-) In the case of the 2019 Orioles system, it's true especially when it comes to pitching. Lately, it's been maddening to gauge the progress of the farmhands due to all the rainouts/doubleheaders. Today is a good example as all games at all levels except for AAA Norfolk's doubleheader have already been postponed. When it comes to hurlers, I'd much rather have them pitching in the minors that sitting in the Orioles' bullpen. An example: Hunter Harvey (remember him?) was supposed to go for Bowie today and I was looking forward to checking him out. His last outing was pretty solid but, he now hasn't pitched in nearly a week. If he's wild, is he struggling or just rusty?
Spin, after today's game, we'll be at 40 games, which is one-fourth the season. I think by June 1, the team will make some more decisions on its future, and certainly more by the end of July.
I hate to say this but Dylan Bundy is turning out to be a genuine bust of a Starting Pitcher..
They paid him a great deal of money as a signing bonus and they also gave him a Major League Contract to boot... he is a huge disappointment... pitches without passion, never has a plan, throws a straight 87 mph fastball with no movement. Opposing hitters have a field day almost every start he makes...but it's okay--he'll "keep chucking' it..."
This is the narrative when the Orioles signed him in the 11th Hour immediately before the deadline to sign him;
Orioles director of amateur scouting Joe Jordan said Baseball America's report that Bundy got a guaranteed $6.225 million is "in the ballpark."
"When you just get down to the player, a special kid, a special talent. Very driven," Jordan said. "He has every intangible that the really, really good players have. Barring injury, we agreed to terms with a very special player. It's because of talent. I know this kid, I know his intangibles. I think this is a kid that is not afraid to be really, really good. It's a good night."---NOT
I'm calling BS on this guy... Shows no passion or doggedness....Huge disappointment. At least act like you care that you are stinking up the Park every time you start Dylan!
Agree, when I claimed lack of passion weeks ago I was pitchers shouldn’t pitch w/passion or emotion....oh well...
Bullpen is looking more attractive for Bundy each day.
He’s at the point where he can’t be successful unless he can set up his 91 mph fastball by throwing a high % of breaking balls for strikes. His career has definitely been a disappointment.
Last year at the deadline, the team gave away Gausman and decided to build around Bundy or use him as trade bait. That was a mistake. Gausman isn't doing well, but the birds could have gotten more from a Bundy trade. Also, didn't Bundy have a 100mph fastball? now hes like Maddux without the control or movement. It looks like he goes in the Matt Riley, Matt Hobgood, Adam Loewen, and Brian Matusz bin of Orioles development failure.