Manny Machado and Bryce Harper homer as Nats win (with quotes)

Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy was not as sharp as he was for a complete-game win in Chicago, but he still delivered his team-leading seventh quality start. But with the Orioles offense still not doing much, he wound up with another loss tonight.

Washington right-hander Jeremy Hellickson held the Orioles to two runs over five innings and then four bullpen pitchers locked down the win as the Nationals beat the Orioles 3-2 at Camden Yards. The Nationals, who have not won a season series since 2007 versus Baltimore, have taken the first two games of this series.

Bundy was hurt by the longball again tonight. Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, batting second in the top of the first, homered to right for a 1-0 lead. Harper hit No. 17 on a first-pitch fastball and drove it out to right a distance of 399 feet.

But then Orioles shortstop Manny Machado, like Harper a free agent-to-be, matched the Nats star with a homer of his own in the home first. He hit No. 16 on a 2-1 curveball from Hellickson. Machado hit the ball 369 feet, ending a seven-game homer drought.

But the Nats got single runs in the second and fourth to lead 3-1. Wilmer Difo's bloop single to center in the second scored Mark Reynolds, who led off the inning with a single. Then in the fourth, Reynolds led off and homered for the two-run lead. He hit an 0-1 fastball for his sixth home run in 12 games with the Nationals. Reynolds began the night batting .406.

The Orioles closed to within 3-2 in the fifth. With two on and two outs, Adam Jones doubled in a run to left-center. But the potential tying run was cut down easily at home on the play 7-6-2.

Bundy allowed a season- and career-high tying 11 hits tonight along with three runs. He did not walk a batter and fanned six, throwing 94 pitches, 68 for strikes. The Nats certainly could have done more damage against him, but they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. He is now 3-7 with a 4.46 ERA through 12 starts and the Orioles are 4-8 in those games.

Bundy allowed two homers tonight. He has given up two or more in five of his last seven starts, allowing 15 in those seven games. He had given up just one over his first five starts.

Hellickson got the win, giving up the two runs and six hits over five innings. He is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.30 after an 81-pitch outing. Last year with the Orioles, he went 2-6 with a 6.97 ERA in 10 starts.

Washington is 31-22 and has won nine straight on the road. The Orioles fall to 17-38 and have lost four in a row, six of eight and 18 of 27. They are 10-15 at Oriole Park.

In the series finale Wednesday night, right-hander David Hess (2-1, 4.15 ERA) faces three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (8-1, 2.13 ERA).

Bundy on giving up 11 hits, but just the three runs: "It seems like the whole night, I was kind of trying to minimize damage. It seemed like every inning was a tough inning and I had to battle. Just trying to limit damage and keep our team in the game. Chance (Sisco) called a great game back there. Me and him were on the same page all night. I'm trying to get shutdown innings out there and I wasn't able to do that in the second and then I gave up another in the (fourth). Just trying to keep the team in the game as long for as possible and when you're taken out, you're taken out."

Jones said it's hard to stay even keel and upbeat with all the losing: "It is not easy. And then you have the background noise - the fans telling players what to do about various things. But it comes with it. Frustration is a part of this game. It's a little more frustrating right now than it has been. But, as a professional, I won't let that bring me down. At the end of the day, I have an obligation to myself, to my family and to this organization to go play hard. This is obviously a results-based business and people only care about results. But the effort is there. All that players can control is the effort. Once the ball is hit, it is out of our control."

With O's offense struggling so much, Jones felt trying to score a second run on his RBI double in the fifth was worth the gamble: "What else can we lose? I look at it that way. What else bad can happen? Try it, screw it. We have to try and do something different. Imagine if (Trea) Turner short-hopped it (the throw home) or bobbled it (on the relay), we score a run. Manny is probably going to get walked. Hopefully C.D. (Chris Davis) comes up and drives everyone in. But obviously. that scenario didn't happen. But I like the aggression on the basepaths. We need to do something. Trying something different is good. We haven't hit well with men in scoring position, so when we get a hit, we have to try and score him."