ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Dylan Bundy's first major league start Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays was met with extraordinary anticipation.
Manager Buck Showalter admitted sensing a buzz inside the Orioles clubhouse in the days leading up to Bundy's first start, especially after they had seen the former first-round pick flourish in his multiple-inning bullpen role.
But everyone also knew Bundy's first start wouldn't be perfect, and while his abbreviated debut did nothing to quell the excitement of unleashing Bundy in a role the Orioles need him in now more than ever, it also served as a reminder that there are several lessons the 23-year-old will learn as he works his way into his future as a big league starter.
"Just like when he first started out, [he had] some scuffles in the bullpen, some good [results] and some bad," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "And then his last three or four [were good] so it was time for the next step. He's a smart guy. He'll learn. He's competitive. It's kind of like Kevin Gausman. You learn and you go forward."
Bundy allowed four runs on three home runs over 3 1/3 innings – as many homers as he allowed in 38 relief innings this season – and exited the game after reaching his pitch limit of 70 in the Orioles' 5-2 loss to the Rays. Tampa Bay snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Not only was Bundy's arrival in the starting rotation the realization of the organization's future becoming the present, but an exciting moment given the indirect path Bundy took to this point, from his fast-tracked brief major league debut and the three injury-plagued seasons that followed, including Tommy John surgery in 2013. Confident those health concerns were in the past, the Orioles let Bundy start to mixed results on Sunday.
"He's got a good arm," Showalter said. "Obviously, we know that. He got a couple of pitches they blocked the other way. Longoria ambushed him for one. It's all a part of the process. . … He's thinking like a pitcher, he's not thinking about a lot of things that have been challenging him. Now, it's about the competition, trying to give us a good chance to win. More times than not, giving up four, we'll be in that game a little bit more than we were today."
He threw 12 of 18 first-pitch strikes, working ahead of the Tampa Bay hitters often, but the Rays obviously did their homework on Bundy, hitting all three homers on mid-90s fastballs, including two opposite-field blasts that came on two-strike counts on fastballs on the outside part of the plate.
"They were pretty much where I wanted them," Bundy said. "…These guys are good hitters up here, we just got to be able to make better pitches. … It's the most pitches I've thrown up here in my career, so that's a positive. Had a good fastball, but the command of it wasn't there like I wanted it to be and they took advantage of it."
One of Bundy's biggest improvements this season has been utilizing his changeup to keep the ball on the ground – and in the ballpark – but he induced just one ground-ball out on the afternoon.
"The Rays are aggressive and were looking to get on that fastball," Bundy said.
"One ball I think was on the ground [for an out] so that's not very good from a starter. I've got to work on movement of it and getting the two-seam over the plate and keep the ball down."
A Rays team that had scored just five runs over their previous four games jumped on the rookie quickly. With the Orioles (53-37) leading 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria turned on a 97-mph fastball on a 1-0 count, sending it an estimated 419 feet into the left-field stands for his 31st career homer against the Orioles. Longoria later hit a second homer off reliever Odrisamer Despaigne for his 17th career multi-homer game.
Bundy was one strike away from getting out of the second inning unscathed before Oswaldo Arcia drilled a full-count, 95-mph fastball on the outside corner to give the Rays a 3-1 lead. Brad Miller then led off the third inning hitting a 0-2, 95-mph outside fastball the opposite way for a solo homer to left field.
"You're trying to work in the off-speed pitches there," Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph said. "When a guy is really throwing it by guys, you run into the issue of not wanting to speed their bat up, but I think he just missed on a couple of pitches. A couple of opposite-field homers. … I don't think that's going to be a very common thing when Dylan is on the mound."
Bundy was carrying a strong fastball that sat at 95-97 and hit 98 mph on the stadium radar gun multiple times. But the control he's displayed this season in relief – he was averaging 2.8 walks per nine innings – wasn't there, as displayed by the four walks he issued Sunday.
"I thought his stuff was really crisp," Joseph said. "I thought he had a nice tempo out there. He left a few balls out over the plate. He didn't give up many hits, but when they did, it seemed like they hit the barrel pretty hard. I thought tonight, or today, was not a good idea of what we're going to get. He's going to put together some really nice innings for us and it's just a batter of their bats waking up at the right time. I thought his stuff was really crisp. I thought he did well.
Bundy reached his season-high of 57 pitches after three innings, and left the game after issuing back-to-back one-out walks to Arcia and No. 9 hitter Curt Casali. His pitch count was between 70 and 75 on Sunday with the hopes he can continue to work it up as he continues to be stretched out.
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