Bundy wavers, bats quiet in loss to Giants

August 19th, 2020

After four straight stellar starts to begin his Angels career, wasn't as sharp against the Giants in an 8-2 loss on a hot Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium that saw a gametime temperature of 98 degrees.

Bundy entered with a 1.57 ERA, 35 strikeouts and three walks in 28 2/3 innings, but he lasted just four innings, surrendering four runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts. He was pitching on a full week of rest after throwing 16 innings and 210 pitches over his previous two outings. But his command wasn’t there all afternoon, and he fell to 3-2 with a 2.48 ERA.

“I was a little off,” Bundy said. “Missing off the plate, especially with the changeup. The [slider] wasn’t very good today. It kept backing up on me.”

Bundy’s troubles began right at the start, serving up a leadoff homer to Mike Yastrzemski on a 1-2 fastball in the upper half of the zone. It snapped a 12-inning scoreless streak for Bundy. Tommy La Stella, Monday night's walk-off hero, got the run back in the bottom half of the frame with a solo shot.

In the second, Bundy issued a leadoff walk to Evan Longoria, and then he gave up a two-run homer to Pablo Sandoval on a fastball way above the zone. It was a full four feet above home plate, according to Statcast, but Sandoval was able to connect with the neck-high pitch for his first homer of the year.

“That one kind of confused me,” Bundy said. “That's kind of where I wanted to throw it. It was way up there. That was where I wanted to throw it, so you've just got to tip your cap to him for hitting that one out. Not much I can do on that.”

Bundy was hurt by another leadoff walk in the third to Yastrzemski, who later came around to score on a two-out RBI single from Brandon Belt on a 1-1 fastball. Bundy didn’t give up a run in the fourth despite walking the first batter yet again and loading the bases with two outs. Luis Rengifo made a nice play at second base to help him get out of the jam, robbing Alex Dickerson of a hit.

Bundy threw 73 pitches and was removed after four innings, marking his shortest outing of the year by two frames. He had trouble commanding his slider and curveball, so he mostly stuck to his fastball and changeup. Bundy threw 30 changeups compared to 24 four-seamers, 14 sliders and just three curveballs. He only registered five swings and misses on the afternoon, including three with the change, one with the fastball and one with the slider. Bundy had a combined 33 swings and misses over his previous two starts.

“Nothing was working from the very beginning,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He didn't have his typical command of everything like he has had. Fastball was getting hit. He tried to elevate a couple times and got it whacked. There was nothing working for him today, but he got through that four. It just wasn’t Dylan’s day.”

Up next
The Angels play the Giants again on Wednesday, but they head north to San Francisco for two games. Left-hander Patrick Sandoval (0-2, 3.94 ERA) gets the start at Oracle Park at 6:45 p.m. PT, live on MLB.TV. Sandoval has gone a career-high six innings in each of his past two starts, but he is still searching for his first career win. Right-hander Johnny Cueto starts for San Francisco.