Bundy with another quality start in 12-1 romp (with quotes)

The Orioles are a streaky little bunch. And that includes little streaks.

They won the last two games before the break, were swept by the Cubs in a three-game series to start the second half and have beaten the Rangers twice in a row.

These are small-sample-size streaks, but they've again put the Orioles five games below .500 and intensified the debate over buyers versus sellers versus standing pat.

Chris Davis homered twice and drove in six runs, belting his eighth career grand slam, and Dylan Bundy gave the rotation its second quality start in two nights in a 12-1 victory over the Rangers before an announced crowd of 18,119 at Camden Yards.

Taking the ball for the first time since July 6, Bundy held the Rangers to one run and four hits over six innings and lowered his ERA to 4.18 in a career-high 114 innings.

Shin-Soo Choo homered on Bundy's second pitch, but the right-hander escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the second and turned in his 13th quality start in 19 outings.

The Orioles (44-49) sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning against Rangers starter Tyson Ross, the first six reaching base, and 10 in the fourth. Jonathan Schoop's 25th double of the season produced two runs in the first, followed by Davis' two-run shot off center fielder Carlos Gomez's glove and Trey Mancini's two-run homer, which didn't require any assistance.

Davis hit his slam - the third by the Orioles this season - in the fourth inning, after Rubén Tejada singled, Adam Jones reached on an error and Schoop walked. Davis' last slam was June 26, 2016 versus the Rays.

Davis has 19 career multi-homer games. Before tonight, he was 1-for-14 with six strikeouts since coming off the disabled list.

Ross was charged with nine runs, eight earned, in 3 1/3 innings. Davis greeted Austin Bibens-Dirkx with the slam.

Tony Barnette replaced Bibens-Dirkx with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, and Manny Machado reached on an infield hit to score Seth Smith and bump the lead to 11-1.

Ross initially was charged with seven earned runs, but a late scoring change credited Jones with a single leading off the bottom of the first and erased an error on third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Smith homered to lead off the ninth inning, his third in five games. He also has nine hits in that span.

Miguel Castro retired all six batters he faced after replacing Bundy, his fastball hitting 98-99 mph. Zach Britton finished up, striking out two.

Showcasing or just giving him the work?

Five consecutive losses, including a sweep in Milwaukee, were followed by back-to-back wins in Minnesota to close the first half. The Orioles went from break to bleak, but here they are again, with a chance to win the series over the next two nights due in large part to Chris Tillman and Bundy each allowing one run in six innings.

Manager Buck Showalter on Bundy: "Good. He was a little rusty early on. In fact, he told me that. Just kind of feeling for it a little bit, command-wise. But I don't want to say he made some pitches when he had to to stay out of some damage. He had a key moment there with Choo with the bases loaded. That's good. About as good as we could expect, so I was happy with his outing. That's two good starts we've gotten in a row. That would certainly bode well if we could continue that pattern.

"I thought, very quietly, Castro, there's a lot to like about him. He's pitching that game like it's the seventh game of the World Series. If you watch him, he's a guy that's on the bench, he's always watching the game, every pitch. You can tell he wants this. He's really not going to let any opportunity pass. Zach was good again tonight, too."

On whether Bundy got back to using all his pitches: "After he got through the first inning or two. It was a little choppy. I don't want to say 'ragged.' It was kind of expected with him and Chris, but we'll take that end game. Texas has a very fearful lineup. They've been really good for a long period of time and will be again this year.

"Dylan is a pitcher. I don't think he had a real good feel for his curveball, which is expected, but the rest of the pitches were there for him tonight."

On back-to-back quality starts helping morale: "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. 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."

On Davis: "Chris has had those periods, even when he's not coming off the DL where, you know, it may not look statistically pleasing, but there's always that potential. That's why you see some guys that strike out 170, 200 times and they are close to the league lead in walks. What drives that? What drives that is the fear of power and the fear of one swing. So, you know, if he stays selective, he seems to always be on base at least one time, so that's a part, and play first base.

"And people ask when he got back, what do you miss about him? You miss the presence a little bit in the lineup. They know he's working there and he's got that potential to have a night like he had tonight."

On importance of Davis in lineup: "Well, it's still about production, but there's another cog in the lineup that guys have to really stress their way through as a pitcher. And, you know, that's what you're looking for. You're looking for very little breathing room where guys can't coast and economize pitches and effort where they're constantly having to go to the tank to get people out, so you know, Chris does that for us."