BALTIMORE -- Orioles starter Dylan Bundy was a late scratch from Sunday's 9-4 home finale win with a left hamstring strain and is expected to be shut down for the rest of the 2017 season.
"I had some apprehension quite frankly about pitching him today. I was going to pitch him five innings only," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Bundy, who is right at where the team wanted him innings-wise. "In fact, [pitching coach] Roger [McDowell] and I tossed and turned on it the last few days, especially after we got eliminated [from the postseason] last night. I've got to tell you, in a way it was a blessing. It's not embarrassing. It really cramped up. He strained it, he slipped in his preparation, the things pitchers do warming up."
Righty Chris Tillman got the ball instead and said he found out around noon that he would be pitching. Bundy is 13-9 with a 4.24 ERA in 169 2/3 innings on the season.
"He's very close to where I was willing to take him to be ready to pitch in the playoffs," Showalter said. "I can show you the charts we had mapped out since spring. He's right on the button. That's why today was a little bit of a stretch. But he really wanted to pitch and we were really going to watch him. I've got to tell you, there's a little part of me that breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't pitch today, to be frank with you."