For one night only, a five-inning start went from being the lowest bar an Orioles starting pitcher could meet while still considering his job well done to the brightest beacon of hope the pitcher's mound at Camden Yards has seen in years.
Dylan Bundy, making his second start of his blossoming career, allowed just an unearned run on five hits with five strikeouts in a 5-1 win over a Cleveland Indians team that came to Baltimore with the best record in the American League.
"That's a real good offensive team over there, so that makes it even more impressive," manager Buck Showalter said. "He was good. He pitched as much as threw."
"It's great," Bundy said. "To give the team five innings and go out there and give the team a chance to win — that's the starter's goal in the game, is to give the team a chance to win, and I was able to do that today."
In smashing through his major league career highs with 87 pitches and five innings, Bundy set himself on a trajectory that could help ease the Orioles' need for a starting pitcher and assuage concerns that moving the 23-year-old to the starting rotation happened too quickly.
Before the game, Showalter was emphatic that Bundy could remain in the rotation for the rest of the season and not pass the innings limit the Orioles set for him at the outset of 2016. Bundy agreed after the game, saying he'd pitch whenever he's supposed to until he's told not to.
He'd pitched just 63 1/3 innings since 2012 because of an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery in 2013, plus shoulder soreness in 2015. After 38 innings of relief, he joined the rotation. And in his first inning Friday, Bundy showed glimpses of the starter the Orioles drafted fourth overall back in 2011.
Bundy struck out designated hitter Carlos Santana on a changeup to open the game. After a one-out single by second baseman Jason Kipnis, he got star shortstop Francisco Lindor looking at a 96-mph fastball and veteran first baseman Mike Napoli swinging at one to pitch a clean first inning.
After that, the Indians challenged Bundy a bit but he proved up to the task. A one-out double, then a single to center field put runners on the corners in the second, but Bundy got a pair of fly balls to end the inning. He worked around a two-out single in the third, and notched his fifth strikeout on a 95-mph fastball to close out the fourth inning.
Unlike his start Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays, when Bundy allowed three home runs in a fastball-heavy outing that saw his velocity dip late, there was no such fatigue showing in the fifth inning Friday. The Indians broke up the shutout after Abraham Almonte doubled to open the fifth, advanced to third on a passed ball charged to catcher Caleb Joseph and scored while the Orioles recorded a double play on the right side of the infield.
That unearned run was the only blemish on a night when the Orioles built an early lead with a three-run home run by right fielder Mark Trumbo in the first inning.
Bundy, with the win, improved to 3-2 on the year, and 1-1 as a starter. His ERA dropped to 3.30, and the 13 swinging strikes he coaxed were the seventh most of any Orioles starting pitcher this year.
The moment wasn't lost on anyone — the Orioles returning home after a taxing road trip with Bundy pitching in front of nearly 40,000 partisan home fans, and pitching that well.
"It meant a lot to me, and I hope there's more to come," Bundy said. "And like I said, I just want to go out there and give the team a chance to win and get five, six, seven innings if I can."
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