BALTIMORE -- Are the Orioles' starters mounting a turnaround?
Perhaps. After closing a disappointing first half of the season, the O's rotation watched its ERA creep above 6 following Sunday's loss. But the starters have gotten consecutive quality starts since, with Dylan Bundy's effort in Tuesday's 12-1 win over the Rangers the latest encouraging sign.
This much is true: If the O's are going to compete, they are going to need their rotation to be better than it has been. And the performance by Chris Tillman, who threw six innings of one-run baseball on Monday, coupled with Bundy's six frames, was a welcome sight.
"We know we have to have a lot of things clicking to get back to where we want to be. I think not only the starters, but just the whole team in general," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "You put that six-spot up and you go back out and put up a zero. A lot of people would forget in this game that we were down 1-0 after the first hitter. It's part of the atmosphere that you operate in if you can get some of that going. It certainly takes a lot of heat off the hitters."
The last time the Orioles pitched back-to-back quality starts was June 1 and 2, with Wade Miley and Alec Asher. Tuesday marked the O's 34th quality start in 93 games, only 10 of which have come since June 1.
Bundy has been the Orioles' ace all season, though he has had some missteps. After turning in quality starts in 10 of his first 11 outings, Tuesday marked just his third quality start in his past eight games.
"There's always competition among ourselves and in the clubhouse," Bundy said. "If he goes out there and throws six innings [and] one run, I want to go out there and throw six innings, no runs. Or better. You always want to do better than the previous guy. It's a good competition."
The O's hope it continues as Baltimore will try for three consecutive quality starts Wednesday for the first time since May 19-21.
"It all starts with us because we are the first ones to throw the ball over the plate," Bundy said. "We've just got to pitch and the rest will fall into place."