Bundy with three scoreless innings and lots of support

LAKELAND, Fla. - Dylan Bundy is the latest Orioles pitcher to go three innings, shutting out the Tigers this afternoon at Publix Field. His fastball was topping out at 94 mph, but the secondary stuff defined his start.

Bundy retired the side in order in the first on only seven pitches, six for strikes. He threw 12 of 16 pitches for strikes in the second inning and stranded J.D. Martinez after a leadoff double. And he stranded JaCoby Jones in the third, throwing 10 of 16 pitches for strikes.

The Tigers managed two hits off Bundy, who threw 28 of 39 pitches for strikes over his three innings.

Bundy struck out Nicholas Castellanos in the first inning on a curveball, Alex Avila in the second on a changeup and James McCann in the second on a curve.

This is the second spring start for Bundy, who faced the Red Sox in Sarasota and allowed one earned run (two total) over two innings.

The Orioles wasted Hyun Soo Kim's two-out double in the first, but they scored six runs in the third on six hits, three walks and a wild pitch.

Mike Pelfrey gave up four straight singles to open the inning, with Johnny Giavotella getting an RBI. A second run scored on Kim's fielder's choice grounder, Trey Mancini followed with an RBI double, reliever Dustin Molleken let a run score on a wild pitch while walking Ryan Flaherty, Chris Johnson delivered an RBI single and Anthony Santander walked with the bases loaded.

Tough inning for the Tigers.

The Orioles sent 12 batters to the plate. Caleb Joseph started the inning with a single and walked with two outs. Santander singled earlier in the inning before working a bases-loaded walk. The Tigers brought in a second reliever, Bryan Garcia, who retired Giavotella on a fly ball.

Before the game, manager Buck Showalter said shortstop J.J. Hardy's debut is "imminent, whenever that might be." It's not likely to be March 10, however.

"As far as a game, probably not," Showalter said, "but if he's doing all baseball activities, moving around and taking part in drills, taking BP, I'm OK with that."

The Orioles have brought catcher Austin Wynns, 26, to major league camp now that he's recovered from an ankle injury. Wynns was a 10th-round pick in 2013 out of Fresno State who played at Single-A Frederick, Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk last season.

"He's got a locker in the main place and if he hadn't gotten hurt in winter ball, he would have had it from the get-go. So once we got him healthy we wanted to bring him over," Showalter said.

Showalter said Joseph won't necessarily catch more with Welington Castillo at the World Baseball Classic.

"I look at it as an opportunity to see some of our other guys," he said. "A better look at Chance (Sisco), run him out there some more. I've heard a lot of good things about Austin Wynns. I looked forward to getting him healthy and getting him over here. You'll like him. He'll probably end up catching in the big leagues sometime.

"Caleb's going to catch enough to stay sharp, but I really look at it as an opportunity see Sisco and see Wynns and see Audry (Perez). I want to get a better feel for Audry. I've got a feel for (Francisco) Peña. I'd like to bring Stuart (Levy) over and get a look at him. You never know how deep you're going to have to go during the season with catching.

"Caleb will still catch every other day, but it won't be any more than what he normally would have done."

Joseph gained unwanted attention last season for his offensive decline, for failing to drive in a run, but Showalter said the catcher's defense didn't suffer.

"No, not at all. If anything, it allowed him to keep playing," Showalter said.

"That's one of the things everybody's liked about him. He's never carried anything behind the plate. He's really good at it. He's a really good defensive catcher, calls a good game. He's a pretty sharp guy. If you bring some bull (crap) to Caleb, it ain't going to work. But he'll go through a wall for you if he thinks you believe in him.

"He's a pretty good catcher. He can really call a game and really present a pitch. We don't call it 'framing' anymore, we call it 'presenting a pitch.' "