Davis on strikeouts and offense; Bundy on recent struggles

HOUSTON - Orioles first baseman Chris Davis provided his take today on the Orioles' three-game run with 40 strikeouts. Last night, the club struck out 19 times in 13 innings. According to STATS, that is two off the club record of 21 strikeouts set on Sept. 12, 1962. That was in a 16-inning game where the Washington Senators' Tom Cheney threw all 16 innings.

The current Orioles - despite this recent run of strikeouts - rank just eighth in the American League with a total of 354, which is actually four under the league average. The O's ranked third in the AL last year in strikeouts.

So what is Davis' take on the strikeouts, both the current rash of them and the O's total for the season?

"That is who we are," Davis said. "If the front office wanted a bunch of slap hitters and basestealers, they would have signed those guys. We are a three-run-home-run kind of team. With that comes the strikeouts. But I think guys did a good job early on of not just going up there and hacking, but really trying to put together good at-bats. And that is the biggest thing when you look at strikeouts. Are you looking at just the total or how we are getting to the strikeouts. I don't see a lot of guys going up there just gashing, hacking at three pitches and sitting down. I feel like they are working counts, trying to get something accomplished and sticking to their plan."

The Orioles lineup has a new look tonight with Manny Machado back hitting first and Jonathan Schoop batting second. Nolan Reimold and Hyun Soo Kim are starting in the corner outfield spots.

"I feel like our lineup over the years has looked a lot different from time to time," Davis said. "(Manager Buck Showalter) just trying to get some things going. We've had some good nights and some tough nights. You just have to continue to grind, understand it's a 162-game season and that you are not going to score 10 runs a night."

Davis is joined by several O's hitters right now that are trying to get their bats going. He is 2-for-24 his past six games.

"I've felt better," he said. "Great thing about power is when you are hot, it's a lot of fun, but it's tough when you are not swinging well. Guys have been picking me up and there have been times when I've picked guys up and that's kind of the way it goes. Very rarely do you have a night when one through nine is clicking."

Meanwhile, Orioles reliever Dylan Bundy has hit a minor slump of his own. The losing pitcher last night, Bundy has allowed nine hits and seven runs with two homers over his last three games, spanning just 4 1/3 innings.

Bundy said he still feels good and feels this could be just a bump in the road for him. He had an ERA of 2.03 before this stretch and is at 5.09 now.

"Yeah right now (it is a bump in the road) because I feel like my stuff is getting better, but the results are getting worse," Bundy said. "I have to just keep working on my command of my fastball and all my off-speed pitches.

"The movement of my pitches, the changeup and the curveball, I feel like I've been able to throw them for a strike. But also when I want to throw it in the dirt for a strikeout or swing-and-a-miss pitch. Not I just have to work on the command of my fastball a little more. It's a long season and you will go through a bump in the road or two. Might be a good thing to learn from it and get better from here."