CLEVELAND -- While many at Progressive Field were focused on Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy’s velocity, Bundy’s focus was solely on stymying the Indians’ offense into the sixth inning. Lifted by Bundy’s solid effort, the Orioles held on to snap a three-game losing streak Friday night, topping the Tribe, 5-1.
“It looked like to me he was on a mission to go deep in the game and set the tone early,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He did that.”
Bundy’s one-run performance against Cleveland came on the heels of posting his lowest average four-seam fastball velocity of his career on May 11 against the Angels. In that outing, Bundy was lifted after five innings and three runs allowed, averaging just 89.9 mph with his heater, well below the speed of his typical four-seamer.
The Orioles remained hopeful that the performance was an outlier.
On Friday, Bundy still ended up slightly shy of his season average entering the night (90.9 mph), but the righty’s fastball was up from that career-low performance against Los Angeles, averaging 90.6 mph. More important, the 26-year-old hurler managed to keep the ball off the barrel of Tribe hitters, predominantly using a healthy mix of fastballs and changeups to record seven strikeouts and 13 swinging strikes.
“I’m not sure if the velo was up any higher tonight. I don’t really care,” Bundy said. “You’re just trying to make your pitches and throw quality strikes.”
With so much focus on the fastball velocity, his changeup, in particular, was used more than usual to combat a lineup full of left-handed bats. Seven of his swinging strikes on Friday night came on the changeup.
“Coming into the game, his ERA wasn’t good, but he’d been getting left-handers out,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Bundy. “He continued that trend with a breaking ball, changeup, but he also got our righties out, speeding us up with the fastball and throwing breaking balls to them.”
Bundy was lifted after 5 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and walking three. The only run scored against him was unearned. The victory lowered his season earned run average to 4.66.
“For me, that was just pitching,” Hyde said. “That’s something we’ve been preaching all along with him is that fastball is going to play up when his offspeed is working. His offspeed stuff is really good. He’s got a really good changeup, curveball, and he’s got command of it. I just thought he did a great job of setting up hitters.
“It was just a gutsy performance on a night we were so short in the bullpen.”
A good day
When asked to describe second baseman Jonathan Villar’s Friday night -- an evening that featured a pair of fielding errors -- Hyde offered a chuckle.
“He had a tough day defensively,” Hyde said with a grin, “And picked us up big with a three-run homer.”
Villar’s second-inning error opened the door for an unearned run later in the frame, but he more than made up for the gaffe in the top of the next inning by clubbing a three-run homer off Indians starter Jefry Rodriguez.
The blast to right-center was Villar’s fifth home run of the season, giving Bundy and the Orioles bullpen all of the breathing room they’d need.
“I think he’ll be alright,” Hyde added. “Errors happen.”
Bouncing back
Following Thursday’s 14-7 loss to Cleveland, Hyde stressed the importance to quickly put the defeat in the rear view mirror and move on the next day.
That can often be easier said than done for a young or inexperienced club.
On Friday, fueled by Bundy’s outing, a better bullpen performance and homers by Villar and Stevie Wilkerson, the Orioles were able to keep a club with playoff expectations in check. Wilkerson was quick to credit the Baltimore coaching staff for helping them learn how to rapidly turn the page and recover.
“They come with a fresh attitude every day no matter what happened the day before, win or loss,” Wilkerson said. “We’re going to grind every day and put our best foot forward and try to play our best game.”