Orioles rookie Dylan Bundy carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning for the second start in a row Tuesday night, and this time he was rewarded for it.
Bundy didn't get the no-hitter and might not have gotten the chance to go all the way regardless of the number of hits he gave up, but he outdueled Texas Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish and the Orioles scored a homer-happy 5-1 victory before 22,230 at Camden Yards.
Bundy allowed just one hit in seven innings in the longest start of his brief major league career and did not give up a run on the way to his fourth victory of the season. He threw 88 pitches before giving way to reliever Brad Brach to start the eighth.
"I think keeping the ball in against some of those lefties they had in that lineup [was important]," Bundy said, "and also mixing it up the whole game and not trying to get into a pattern."
Darvish struck out nine, but he served up three solo home runs – two of them to Orioles designated hitter Pedro Alvarez. The Orioles had four homers in all, the last one off the bat of Matt Wieters, whose 10th homer of the year gave the Orioles seven batters with double-figure home run totals.
There was a bit of suspense in the eighth. Brach allowed two walks and two singles to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs. That set up a showdown between Rangers 20-homer center fielder Ian Desmond and Darren O'Day. The duel came down to a pair of full-count pitches.
Desmond fought off a two-strike slider and then struck out to end the threat.
O'Day remained in the game to pitch the ninth and recorded his third save of the season. Zach Britton remained in the bullpen after the O's added a fifth run in the bottom of the eighth and took away the save opportunity for him.
Alvarez doubles up again: Pedro Alvarez broke the scoreless tie when he opened the Orioles' fifth inning with his 14th homer of the season – a line drive into the right field bleachers. In his next at-bat, he launched a ball onto the flag court for his 15th homer, which dropped his HR ratio to a home run every 15.2 at-bats. That ranks him second on the team behind only Mark Trumbo (13.8). It was his second two-homer game of the season.
"He very quietly, for about a month now, has been a real threat for us at a time of need," manager Buck Showalter said. "He's been a real contributor for us. He's had solid at-bats and being a lot more selective. He hit breaking balls both times, didn't he? Actually, the first one he hit was a pretty good pitch. He didn't get all of that, but he's just strong."
Back-to-back again: Wieters followed Alvarez to the plate in the seventh inning and hammered a ball into the right field bleachers to produce the 11th pair of back-to-back home runs hit by the Orioles this season. Alvarez's homer came off Yu Darvish. Wieters' came against Rangers reliever Dario Alvarez.
Jones hits No. 21: Adam Jones broke open the 12th inning on Sunday in Toronto with a three-run homer and then made it back-to-back games Tuesday night when he hit his 21st of the season to lead off the sixth inning.
Wieters shortens the fourth: Bundy allowed his first baserunner of the game in the fourth inning when he walked center fielder Ian Desmond to bring new Ranger Carlos Beltran to the plate. Lest anyone forget, Bundy was perfect through five innings in his previous start before walking Colorado's Mark Reynolds with one out in the sixth and giving up a home run to former Oriole Nick Hundley. This time, he teamed up with Wieters on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the inning and hold down his pitch count.
Buck moves up: Showalter earned his 518th win as Orioles manager, moving him past Paul Richards for sole possession of second place on the franchise's all-time wins list behind only Earl Weaver.