More on Mancini and Bundy has another strong outing

With four home runs in seven games this year and three in five games last year, Orioles rookie Trey Mancini has put himself in pretty select company.

This is courtesy of STATS, LLC and 1913 is as far back as they were able to go on this note which was also discovered Sunday through research on the baseball-reference.com website.

Most Home Runs in first 12 games of MLB career - since 1913:
* Trey Mancini - 7 (09/20/2016 - 04/16/2017)
* Trevor Story - 7 (04/04/2016 - 04/17/2016)
* Dino Restelli - 7 (06/14/1949 - 06/25/1949)
* Taylor Teagarden - 6 (07/18/2008 - 09/15/2008)
* Carlos Delgado - 6 (10/01/1993 - 04/14/1994)
* Curt Blefary - 6 (04/14/1965 - 05/04/1965)

"It's humbling to hear that," Mancini said of putting his name on this list. "Especially with how many legends have played the game. To make your mark in any way is really neat."

And yes, there are two Orioles on this list with Mancini and Blefary. Blefary went on to become the American League Rookie of the Year in 1965. There's three if you want to count Teagarden, who didn't hit those homers with the Orioles but later played for the team in parts of 2012-13.

Fewest games to 7 Home Runs in MLB career - Since 1913:
* 6 in 2016: Trevor Story
* 12 in 2017: Trey Mancini
* 12 in 1949: Dino Restelli
* 13 in 1994 Carlos Delgado
* 15 in 2006: Matt Kemp

Beyond how impressive Mancini has been at this very early stage of his career, he is also impressing within the Orioles clubhouse, according to manager Buck Showalter.

"I think he has certainly gained the respect of the veteran players with the way he's handled success and knows that, it can go both ways," Showalter said. "Also having respect for the oppostion and opposing pitchers. He's just grinding through the competiton trying to prove he belongs."

We mentioned it yesterday but it was pretty remarkable that all four homers the Orioles hit Sunday were hit with Mancini's batch of Louisville Slugger model C243 bats. After he hit his second homer in the eighth yesterday, both Craig Gentry and Manny Machado went to the plate with one of the extra Mancini bats. Then they both homered.

"I have never seen that before," Showalter said. "When you're ahead like that you are trying to be respectful of the opposition and not have too much fun but, that was one were I just went, 'Really.' When the third one went and hit the foul pole *(by Machado), you kidding me," he said.

"It was pretty awesome," Mancini added. "They used the same model, it wasn't the same bat I used (in the game) but they used one of my extra bats. It was pretty cool they both hit home runs. Might need an extra shipment here soon."

In his 12 career MLB games, Mancini is batting .361/.410/1.000 with seven homers and 14 RBIs in 36 at-bats. His career OPS is 1.410. In four road games this season, he is 7-for-14 with four homers, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.991.

The Mancini magic from Sunday probably overshadowed what was another strong pitching performance from right-hander Dylan Bundy. He went six scoreless innings and is 2-1 with an ERA of 1.86. He's allowed one run over 13 innings in two starts against Toronto. In six career games (two starts) versus the Blue Jays, he is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.51.

The young guns, Bundy and Kevin Gausman, are throwing well and the Orioles are 5-1 in their six combined 2017 starts.

"He's so much more than a thrower," Showalter said of Bundy. "It's been great to watch he and Kevin grow as pitchers and manipulators of the baseball in the zone with different weapons. It's part of that process when they figure out that more is not always better.

"He had the slider and the curveball and he had a couple changeups (working). He reached back to get a little [extra] fastball, but to make the evaluation that you're not carrying that plus fastball on a given night [was important]."

Orioles starting pitchers recorded four quality starts in four games in the series at Rogers Centre. The rotation stats in the series: 24 1/3 innings, 18 hits, 5 runs, 4 walks and 22 strikeouts for an ERA of 1.85. O's pitchers worked to an ERA of 2.83 in taking three of four from Toronto.

Over the past five games, the Orioles have hit five, zero, four, zero and four homers. The club hit five home runs in the season's first six games. Now they've hit 13 in the last five games. The Orioles have hit two or more homers five times and are 5-0 in those games.

Toronto fell to 2-10 with that loss Sunday and has lost four series in a row to start the season for the first time in franchise history.

The Orioles get to enjoy their series win in Toronto for one more day with yet another off day today. Other clubs in the American League East are playing well too, as the New York Yankees are 8-4 and just a 1/2 back of the first-place Orioles while Boston is 7-5 and 1 1/2 games back.