Bundy on his outing, Schoop on the RBIs and the win

The Orioles have not had a pitcher throw a complete game since Ubaldo Jiménez against the Rays on Sept. 5, 2016. Dylan Bundy had a real chance tonight. He was rolling with 93 pitches and with a big lead through eight innings.

But manager Buck Showalter has to think long-term and went to Brad Brach to pitch the ninth to complete the Orioles' 7-2 win over the Royals.

Bundy, as you would expect, would have liked the chance to finish the game.

"Yeah, I did," he said. "But I understood. That the was first time I ever finished eight in the big leagues. We have a game plan on the innings this year and we're going to kind of watch it."

Bundy retired the last 13 batters he faced and seemed to get better as the game went on. He threw six pitches in the sixth, 10 in the seventh and 11 in the eighth.

He gave up just three hits - all singles - and none after the third inning. He allowed an unearned run with one walk and five strikeouts. The eight innings is a career high and he is now 10-8 with an ERA of 4.24.

Bundy threw 24 sliders tonight. Was that the game plan to use the pitch so much against the Royals?

"It was just working a little better tonight," he said. "Usually I don't get it in on lefties as much. I try to make it more of a cutter when I go in to lefties with it. We were able to throw it to those lefties some tonight, too, which helped.

"Just execution of pitches low in the zone and having a game plan with Welly (catcher Welington Castillo) back there and sticking to it (was a key). Then, after we got the lead later in the game, I was trying to attack hitters early (in the count) and work ahead."

Bundy was pitching on eight days' rest and the extra rest seemed to agree with him. Although, he was not sure if that was a big factor or not.

"I don't think you ever know if it benefits you or not," Bundy said. "Sometimes it doesn't benefit you and you are out there a little while and are a little rusty. Yeah, tonight I think it definitely worked in my favor and I felt great out there."

Bundy was asked to size up what it means that he has pitched well on extra rest before.

"It means I need to get better on a five-man rotation, I guess," he said. "Because that is how we pitch, with four days' rest on the fifth day. So no, it was a good game. We hit the ball and defense played great behind me today."

The Orioles have won four in a row with a rotation ERA of 0.94 in that span. The three hits allowed was a season low for Bundy, who now has back-to-back 10-win seasons.

Jonathan Schoop's RBI surge continued tonight. He had two hits including a first-inning RBI single. Schoop has 24 RBIs the past 15 games. He talked about Bundy's strong start and the Orioles now playing better with 10 wins the last 15 games.

"It was fun," Schoop said. "He was throwing strikes and got ahead. He kept them off-balance. He was really good tonight.

"Everybody's clicking together, but this team is really good. Everybody believes in everybody. We know what we can do, so everybody cheers for everybody, everybody's rooting for everybody, but we've got it together now. That's good. We got some wins. That's the best feeling in the world when you win."

The Orioles won tonight on the night they gave away Schoop T-shirts. His bobblehead giveaway is Saturday night.

"I know. I know," he said. "I've got like four (T-shirt) boxes to go home with. I don't know where they are ready. I'm ready for it. I'm going to take like six (bobblehead) boxes to go home. I'm going to Curacao and give them away there, too."

The Orioles had 15 hits tonight, the ninth time they've had 15 or more in game. They are now 12-5-1 in home series and can sweep this one on Wednesday night.