Dylan Bundy, one-time franchise savior and elbow reconstruction survivor, started Monday in the Orioles' much-needed win over the visiting Washington Nationals. A peer in both of those distinctions, Washington's Steven Strasburg, was scratched due to elbow soreness.
As the Orioles try to chart a new path for bringing young, promising pitchers back from Tommy John surgery, a new poster boy for marshalling and managing young arms shined in the absence of an old one. Bundy, 23, provided the Orioles another impressive outing in a 4-3 win at Camden Yards.
Bundy battled command problems for most of the evening, but came away a winner. He allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to 3.33 and his ERA since joining the rotation to 3.56.
He showed signs of being the young pitcher he is, with his location eluding him at times. Washington scored once in the first inning after a leadoff walk to center fielder Trea Turner came back to haunt Bundy, but despite putting on at least one runner in the first five innings and allowing a fourth-inning home run to Anthony Rendon, Bundy dialed up precisely what the reeling Orioles needed.
Only in the sixth inning, when he was pulled at 94 pitches despite retiring nine of his last 10 batters, did you remember this was a pitcher who is in his first fully healthy year since 2012. His path to being this type of rotation stabilizer is unlike many pitchers who have gone under the knife before him —Strasburg included.
The Orioles, who have seen young, promising pitchers such as Bundy and Hunter Harvey sidelined with Tommy John Surgery despite precautions as minor leaguers, took a unique approach with Bundy this year.
He had to make the Opening Day roster because all of his minor league options were used after initially being signed to a lucrative major league contract after the draft. So he pitched in relief, on a typical reliever's schedule at first and eventually on a starter's routine, with four days rest in between outings of around 50-60 pitches.
Showalter said earlier this month it "reeked of a starting pitcher."
"We carefully managed the innings and built up his pitch count, so now he's available to us to start in the second half," executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said before the game. "The club is inclined to let him pitch — he feels good, he's trained to pitch, and we've carefully managed the workload and we'll continue to carefully manage the workload. Dave Wallace is very good at keeping the starting pitchers well-rested. That's something that we were focused on before the season started."
Holding him out of the rotation until July, Duquette said, was "better for him, and was still good for the team."
This is the time of year when young pitchers or those coming off injuries ultimately meet problems. All year the Toronto Blue Jays have mulled a move to relief for star young starter Aaron Sanchez, and on Sunday they optioned him to the minors to keep him fresh. Last year, the New York Mets had a public spat with All-Star Matt Harvey in his first year back from Tommy John, ultimately blowing through the innings limit set for him by agent Scott Boras in the name of a World Series run.
Strasburg's case is the most unforgettable of them; in 2012, the Nationals shut him down in September, valuing Strasburg's long-term health over a chance at a World Series. He's grateful for it now, having signed a seven-year, $175 million contract with the team that has stewarded him to mostly good health.
A hundred years of baseball, no matter the era, have shown that pitching health can be fickle, though. The disabled list stint that took Strasburg from Monday's scheduled showdown with Bundy came because he has trouble recovering between starts with his surgically repaired elbow, something the Nationals have monitored all year, general manager Mike Rizzo said. They expect him to return at full strength in September.
There's no comparing Bundy and Strasburg's situations. Bundy's light workload three years removed from surgery is distinctive. But what they both have in common is the new-age way that organizations play carefully with their best young arms.
"You know back in our day, somebody would tell you to put a skirt on or something derogatory about being a man," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. "The whole world has changed on that."
That goes for pitchers coming back from injury, too. Agents and analysts to chastise teams for not protecting their valuable pitching assets. They do so because they know how fragile it all can be, how futile measures for protection can prove, and how fun it is to watch those pitchers in question — the top-shelf ones like Bundy and Strasburg — pitch at a high level.
That's what Bundy's been doing for five months now as a major leaguer. Strasburg has done it for the last five years. The Orioles hope their reward for Bundy's cautious handling is at least that long.
Twitter.com/JonMeoli
Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck contributed to this story.