SARASOTA, Fla. -- Right-hander Dylan Bundy gave up a two-run home run to Boston's Andrew Benintendi, the second batter he faced in the Orioles' 12-5 win Wednesday. It turned out the dinger was nothing more than shaking off the cobwebs in Bundy's first Grapefruit League start.
Bundy retired the next three batters to get out of the inning. He went two innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts. He threw 38 pitches, 29 for strikes.
"Good starting point for him," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter.
"Just basically to get back out there and knock the nerves out of there," said Bundy, the Orioles' first-round pick in 2011. "I'm just happy with the way I controlled the fastball. I thought I did a decent job of throwing strikes and getting ahead of batters and staying ahead of them. I just threw one pitch right down the middle and [Benintendi] was able to hit it out.

"I was pleased with keeping balls on the ground. I think there was one popout," he added. "The infield, letting them take care of the ground balls. They're not going to be able to hit the ball out if you keep it on the ground. I threw quite a few more two-seams than I normally do. I liked the way that pitch was working today."
The Orioles scored four runs in the bottom of the first, giving Bundy some breathing room.
"[It] absolutely [was a lift], especially after you give up a two-run homer," he said. "They come back and score four runs. During the season, you want to go out there and get a shutdown inning and I was able to do that, so I was happy with the outing."
Bundy threw his entire repertoire, including a new pitch, a hybrid of a cutter/slider.
"I guess we can just call it a 'cutter' if we want," he said. "I was getting around them today. I threw one or two good ones, but I've still got a lot of work to do.
"It wasn't what I wanted, but it was the first time I was really throwing it at game speed. Learned something and now I've got to work on it."
Last spring, Bundy gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Brandon Guyer.
"Making progress, I guess," Bundy said. "Maybe next year it will be the third batter. I don't know. It's just part of the game. Knocking the dust off a little bit and getting out there and getting back to it, I guess."