After blowout loss, can Bundy/Gausman duo slow Boston?

After the Red Sox pounded Orioles pitching last night in a 12-2 win in the series opener, how will the young guns do the next two nights?

With their American League East title hopes perhaps hanging in the balance, the Orioles turn to a pair of first-round draft picks in the next two games at Fenway Park. Dylan Bundy (8-5, 3.82 ERA) gets the start tonight and Kevin Gausman (7-10, 3.61 ERA) on Wednesday night.

This will be quite a challenge for the 23-year-old Bundy and the 25-year-old Gausman. Not to mention the entire Orioles team that has now lost three in a row to the Red Sox in the season series to fall to 6-7. The last two games have seen O's losses by seven 10 runs.

Boston (81-62) easily leads the major leagues in runs scored at 802. They lead the majors with 83 games scoring five runs or more and have scored 45 runs in their past five games. They are 20-10 the last 30 games and 15-7 in their last 22 AL East games.

Yep, a challenge indeed for the Bundy/Gausman duo.

Bundy has allowed five runs in three of his last five starts, pitching to an ERA of 6.46 in that span. The first of those five starts was at home on Aug. 17 versus Boston and he allowed a season-high nine hits and five runs over 4 1/3 innings that night.

"They hit everything," Bundy said after that game in Baltimore. "I guess. I don't know. I threw some good pitches and they still hit 'em. Just one of those nights, I guess. Just have to learn from it and get better from here. Those guys came out hacking and they hit the ball well."

Bundy had pitched to an ERA of 1.45 over his previous three starts and to a 2.76 ERA in his six starts overall before the Sox hit him hard that night. But he has mixed in two strong outings over these last five starts. We'll see if the kid is up to this huge challenge tonight.

Gausman has been the Orioles' best starter recently. He took a three-start and 19 innings scoreless streak into his outing Friday at Detroit. The run ended at 20 consecutive innings but he gave up seven hits and three runs in a solid outing in the opener of that series. Gausman threw 114 pitches and has pitched to an ERA of 1.08 over his last four starts.

Boston has now won three in a row versus the Orioles. On Aug. 16-17 in Baltimore, Boston won by scores of 5-3 and 8-1. Coupled with last night's loss, they have outscored the Orioles 25-6 in the past three games. The Red Sox hit .364 in those games and O's starters have an ERA of 11.81. Boston's lineup is filled with hot hitters right now and they are scoring 7.8 runs per game this month.

The Orioles have to find a way to slow down this hot-hitting team that may be surging to the AL East championship. Back in late May, Boston came into Camden Yards and won the first two games of a series by scores of 7-2 and 6-2. Some feared a four-game sweep, but the Orioles started mashing homers and won the last two games of that set by 13-9 and 12-7.

Can the Orioles bounce back against Boston yet again?