Bundy allows five runs in two innings (with quotes, O's up 10-7)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Dylan Bundy filled the strike zone in the first inning and the bases in the second.

The result was another outing that produced an ugly pitching line.

The Pirates scored four runs off Bundy in the second inning to take a 4-1 lead, a powerful counterpunch following Manny Machado's RBI double in the bottom of the first. Colin Moran had an RBI double in the third and Bundy was charged with five runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Colby Rasmus homered to center field leading off the bottom of the second inning, his first with the Orioles after signing a minor league deal.

Bundy retired three straight after Adam Frazier's leadoff single into center field on an 0-2 pitch and threw 11 of 12 pitches for strikes by my unofficial count. Moran and Jose Osuna opened the second with soft singles - a grounder up the middle and broken-bat flare into left field - Bundy hit Jacob Stallings with two outs and Frazier cleared the bases on a ball that took a nasty hop past first baseman Mark Trumbo and rolled into right field for a triple.

Frazier scored on Starling Marte's double past third base, and Bundy had allowed nine runs and nine hits over four innings in his first two exhibition starts.

He wasn't done.

The first Orioles starter to come back out for the third inning, Bundy surrendered back-to-back doubles to Josh Bell and Moran to increase the lead to 5-2 while Asher Wojciechowski warmed in the bullpen. He's allowed 10 runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings. No walks or strikeouts today.

Bundy was charged with five runs, including a grand slam, and walked three batters over two innings in his debut against the Phillies in Clearwater. The reports indicated that he pitched better than the results - wind, an inconsistent strike zone. He was victimized by some cheapies today, but the Pirates also squared him up.

Chris Davis, in the leadoff spot to give him an extra at-bat, struck out looking at a 2-2 curveball in the first, but Trey Mancini singled off Tyler Glasnow and scored standing up on Machado's double to left field. Machado is 6-for-11 with two doubles, one home run and five RBIs in five games.

Third baseman Tim Beckham charged Todd Cunningham's slow roller in the first and fired to Trumbo for the out. Every nice play he makes at a new position should be noted.

Miguel Castro completed his start earlier today in the B game, allowing a solo home run by Austin Meadows in two innings. He threw 37 pitches, 26 for strikes, by my unofficial count.

"OK, first time out," said manager Buck Showalter. "Healthy. Good to see him out there. He threw close to 40, so that's good. Get that under his belt. He can get back in the mix now. It was a good step for him."

Castro was a valuable contributor out of the bullpen last summer, but the Orioles want to give him a shot as the fifth starter.

"We're going to take our best five starters and we go from there," Showalter said. "If we think he's one of them, that's what he'll do. I'd like to decrease the need for his role, you know? My biggest concern now is trying to figure out a way where we don't have as big a need for a long reliever, but you do. Every club does. But we had more need last year than probably anybody in the league."

Could the Orioles put him in Triple-A Norfolk's rotation to stretch him out rather than return him to a relief role?

"It depends on how we feel about our depth," Showalter replied. "If we feel like he would be a good depth piece and is real close to being in our rotation, you might think about that. It depends on who else is available. We're going to take our best 12 and we've got some guys out of options. There are a lot of different variables here that are going to play into it a little bit.

"I'm looking for the best 12 pitchers and if somebody wants to make me aware of some other things that might be a tiebreaker, we'll debate that."

I didn't see much of the B game because the media was interviewing Showalter and Castro, and I raced into the work room to write the Danny Valencia story. I saw Pedro Álvarez and Anthony Santander collect back-to-back singles in the first. Alvarez had trouble handling a throw from across the diamond that led to an error, but Castro struck out the next batter and Andrew Susac threw out the runner trying to steal.

Update: The Pirates scored a run off Wojciechowski in the fourth on a Frazier double, Marte single and Todd Cunningham sacrifice fly and lead 6-2. The Orioles got a run back in the bottom half on Rasmus' walk and Beckham's two-out double to center field.

Machado is 2-for-2 with an RBI and is 7-for-12 this spring.

Bundy threw 55 pitches, 38 for strikes. Here are some quotes:

On his second inning: "I got a couple guys with two strikes and gave up some hits there. Didn't really put them away and execute the pitches. I was leaving them ... all the pitches out over the plate today. Last outing, I was just missing off the plate. This outing, I was just missing too much on the plate I felt like and a little bit up. I've just got to keep working during spring."

On whether he takes poor results personally in spring: "That's kind of the way I look at it is that it's just the first two outings of spring and I'm getting back in the swing of things, but yeah, I don't like giving up hits and hit batters and homers and stuff like that. Mainly just getting the arm in shape to go five, six, seven innings is the goal here. Obviously, I need to work on my pitch execution and get those pitches refined a little bit."

On whether he's where he wants to be physically: "Not yet. 2 1/3, we've got to go seven, so not quite there yet physically obviously, but that's why we have multiple outings and we keep increasing every outing."

On need to put away hitters with two strikes: "It's huge because that's one extra pitch or a couple extra pitches you don't have to throw if you're throwing balls or giving up base hits. You always try to put those guys away when you get two strikes as quick as you can."

On whether he's throwing all his pitches: "Yeah, every pitch I've been throwing. I was working on my changeup and I wanted to throw my curveball a little bit more but I didn't really get the chance to there. A couple of those changeups I left up and they got hit pretty hard, so just got to get them down."

On not having any strikeouts in two starts: "No, I actually didn't know that. Now that you brought that up, thanks. No, it's not really on my mind. I'm not out here for strikeouts. I'm trying to refine my pitches and get them where they need to be for March 28 or whenever opening day is."

Update II: Mancini singled with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth to score two runs and Machado followed with a three-run shot to left field off Damien Magnifico to give the Orioles an 8-6 lead.

Machado is 8-for-13 with two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs this spring. Is that good?

Update III: Wojciechowski gave up another run in the fifth on Max Moroff's RBI double to cut the lead to 8-7.

Update IV: Beckham followed Trumbo's single in the fifth with a two-run shot to center field to give the Orioles a 10-7 lead.