O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Yankees in series opener

On Tuesday night, Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy (13-8, 3.94 ERA) pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout with a career-high 12 strikeouts against Seattle. He faces the Yankees today in his follow-up act.

The Orioles (70-67) and Yankees (73-63) play the opener of a three-game series this afternoon. Baltimore trails New York by 3 ½ games for second in the division and also for the first AL wild card spot. The Orioles and Angels are both 1 ½ games behind the Twins for the first AL wild card.

After Sunday's 12-inning, 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays, the Orioles have won nine of 11 and 10 of 13 games. They are 5-2 on this homestand and 43-28 at home for the year.

The Yankees crushed Boston 9-2 last night as Aaron Judge hit his 38^th homer and Starlin Castro drove in three runs. New York is 32-25 versus AL East foes and 28-22 since the All-Star break. New York is 35-40 since June 12.

Bundy in that outing against Seattle pitched the first O's individual one-hitter Jason Hammel at Atlanta on June 16, 2012. It was second game in O's history where a hurler threw a one-hitter with 12 or more strikeouts. Mike Mussina one-hit Minnesota with 15 strikeouts on Aug. 1, 2000.

In five August starts, Bundy went 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA and .177 average against. Bundy has fanned 10, eight and 12 his last four starts. In 28 innings in that span, he has walked five and struck out 40. He has a team-leading 18 quality starts, including five in a row.

Since the All-Star break, the Orioles are 7-0 in Bundy's starts and he is 5-0 with a 3.04 ERA. In two starts this year against New York, he is 1-1 with a 3.46 ERA.

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-7, 4.15 ERA) will make his 25^th start for New York. In eight second-half starts, he is 1-3 with a 5.35 ERA. In three starts on the year versus Baltimore, he is 1-1 with a 3.31 ERA.

Minor league honors: The Orioles have named Double-A Bowie Baysox outfielder DJ Stewart the organization's Player of the Month for August. Short season Single-A Aberdeen right-hander Michael Baumann was named the Pitcher of the Month.

Stewart, the club's first round pick in 2015, hit .340 with nine doubles, six home runs, 17 runs and 20 RBIs over 27 games in the month. The Florida State product recorded the first multi-home run game of his career on Aug. 22. Earlier in the month, Stewart set a career-high with six RBIs in a 13-7 win over Portland on August 5.

When Stewart stole his 20th base of the year on Sunday, he became the first Bowie player ever with 20 or more homers (he has 21) and 20 steals in one season.

He is the fourth Baysox player to receive an Orioles monthly award this season after pitchers John Means and Tanner Scott were named in April and May, while outfielder Austin Hays received the Player of the Month honor in June.

Baumann was the Orioles' third-round pick this year (No. 98) overall out of Jacksonville University. For Aberdeen in nine games (eight starts) he is 4-1 with a 1.14 ERA. Over 39 1/3 innings he has allowed 24 hits with 17 walks and 35 strikeouts. Over five August starts, Baumann went 4-0 with an ERA of 0.70 and .161 average against.

Bowie's Hays hit his 32nd home run this afternoon. He is one of the leaders for the minors at all levels.