BOWIE, Md. - In what was his best outing yet at the Double-A level, Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy gave up just one run over six innings tonight as Bowie beat Akron 4-2 in Game 1 of a best-of-five Eastern League playoff series.
The Baysox played some tight defense behind him and backed the right-hander with homers from Rhyne Hughes, Ty Kelly and Ronnie Welty.
Bundy said he felt some playoff intensity out there tonight.
"Definitely, we want to win this thing. Quicker you win it, the better it is. Playoff game, was a good atmosphere to play in," Bundy said.
After going 2-0 with an ERA of 3.24 in three regular-season starts, tonight he gave up six hits, including a Matt Lawson solo homer in the second. He walked one and fanned seven, his most for the Baysox. Bundy threw 93 pitches, 63 for strikes.
"One of my better (outings) here in Double-A," Bundy said. "I was getting ahead in the counts and had good command. The quality (of the pitches) was pretty good. I don't think my fastball velo was as good as it has been, but I was commanding it better. That's the main thing. If you can command 93-95, that is better than 98 and not commanding it.
"I was really happy with my changeup. I threw my changeup more today than I ever have in pro ball. Curveball was good the first three innings, after that I didn't use it much. It was fastball-changeup and two-seams."
Bundy said he could tell early that he had a good changeup, so he and catcher Brian Ward went to it a lot.
"I was able to throw it on the outside half to righties, low and in to righties, away to lefties and they weren't really making an adjustment to it," Bundy said. "Tonight it just had a little bit more depth to it. It was going down more than fading. I realized the good movement on it, so we stuck with that more than the curve tonight."
Baysox manager Gary Kendall agreed that this was the best of Bundy's four Baysox starts.
"That was six good innings," Kendall said. "He just executed. He had a good plan. His changeup, I can't say enough about it, he threw some really good ones. It was a well pitched and well played game by us. Now we have to focus tomorrow. They've got a good team."
Bundy said he didn't see Orioles vice president Dan Duquette, who was sitting in the stands behind home plate. But he did find out after the game that Duquette was there thanks to a certain blogger.
"I saw that you put it on Twitter. Didn't see until after the game. Twitter is everything now," Bundy said.
Thanks for the follow Dylan.
So Duquette was here but as far as we can tell that doesn't mean that Bundy still possibly could be a callup to the Orioles. Bundy said he thinks that talk is over now.
"They said the plan is to go to instructs (instructional league) to get more innings and that is what I'm focused on now. Want to win a playoff championship here with this team, celebrate that and then get more innings at instructs. That's the plan," Bundy said.
Mike Wright is scheduled to start for Bowie here tomorrow at Prince George's Stadium at 7:05 p.m. before the series shifts to Akron for Game 3 Friday and, if necessary, Games 4 and 5 Saturday and Sunday.
The Eastern League championship series begins next Tuesday and Bowie would host the first two games if the Baysox advance.
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