Bundy's brilliance for naught as O's stifled in 12

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles got a glimpse of their future on Monday night, a future without superstar Manny Machado's bat in the middle of the order. And it was ugly.
Machado -- who was out sick -- left a gaping hole in an already punchless O's lineup, which squandered eight magnificent innings from Dylan Bundy in a series-opening 2-0, 12-inning defeat by the Red Sox. Baltimore -- the only team in the Majors that has yet to eclipse the 20-win mark -- has lost five consecutive games, with Monday's defeat the 19th time it's been held to one or fewer runs.
The team leader in homers (18) and RBIs (50), Machado is in his final year under team control and is a hot commodity leading up to this year's non-waiver Trade Deadline. Without him, the O's struck out 14 times and mustered up one extra-base hit.
"We just couldn't get that hit that's been eluding us for, it seems like, quite a while," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Dylan was as good as you want to see. It's a really tough lineup to go through and he was outstanding."

Bundy, who leads the team with four scoreless starts this season, held Boston to three hits and struck out seven in his second-longest outing of the season.
"You could say that," Bundy said of being in a good place for his last handful of starts. "Body feels good, arm feels great. Just taking the ball every five days and trying to give our team a chance to win."
But his effort wasn't enough.
Mychal Givens, who pitched out of a two-out bases-loaded jam in the 11th, couldn't escape again in the 12th. A Boston offense that has recently been scuffling got a pair of sacrifice flies from Brock Holt and Jackie Bradley Jr. to break the scoreless tie.

"Just a lot of things not going our way," Givens said of an Orioles club that has been shut out seven times, leaving no margin for error for its pitching staff. "We are going to try to figure something out and hopefully get us on a streak and try to turn everything around."
The Orioles stranded runners in the ninth and 10th, and were flummoxed for the early portion of the game by Boston knuckler Steven Wright. Their best chance to score off of him came in the seventh, when they loaded the bases to chase the righty from the game.
Wright got two quick outs before hitting Chance Sisco with a pitch and allowing Jace Peterson to bunt for a base hit. After a walk to Joey Rickard, Wright -- who has not allowed a run in 22 2/3 innings -- exited in favor of Joe Kelly to face Adam Jones. But Kelly got Jones to chase some high heat, causing the large group of Red Sox fans in attendance to get to their feet as the O's left the bases juiced.

"I think it's frustrating for everyone. Everybody knows that," Bundy said of the lack of offense. "We've just got to come back to work tomorrow and strap up for another game."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Givens comes up short: The O's righty, who walked in the walkoff run in Toronto on Saturday, went 3-0 on Mitch Moreland in the 11th before firing three straight strikes. He wasn't nearly as effective in the 12th, loading the bases with no outs after Xander Bogaerts singled, Rafael Devers doubled and Eduardo Núñez took a pitch in the ribs.
"He loses it for a little while. He's pitched well and he goes through some periods, but he always gets back on track," Showalter said of Givens. "Like hitters, you can get where you want something too much and the kind of emotional part of it gets in the way of it. He's got great stuff. You look at his body of work and when he gets done last season and this season, it will be good. It hasn't been the last couple times."
HE SAID IT
"It's tough to tell, the way we're swinging the bats. Early on, we hit some balls sharp on the button right at them. Usually, that's a good sign for things to come off a knuckleballer. When you get the weak popups with not much height on them and tough balls, you go, 'This could be a tough challenge.' It wasn't that way early on, and then it kind of became that way. Anxiety sets in for us not scoring runs. Give him some credit, but there were some other things working in his favor that we're providing." -- Showalter, on Wright's effectiveness

UP NEXT
Rookie David Hess will take the mound on Tuesday night against former Orioles farmhand Eduardo Rodriguez and the Red Sox. Hess has been a bright spot for Baltimore and will look for his third win since coming up last month. Game time is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET.