Hearing from Bourn, Showalter and Bundy after 7-6 loss

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles took three leads today against the Rays. Shutdown innings weren't on the menu. Three leads in their quest to complete the sweep and perhaps move into a first-place tie in the American League East.

An inability to hold the leads proved their undoing, and the last-place Rays took a 7-6 victory before another intimate gathering at Tropicana Field.

How much this one hurts won't truly be known until later, but it had to sting that a winnable game dissolved into defeat.

"It's hard, man. But it's hard to sweep a team," said outfielder Michael Bourn, who made his first start with the Orioles. "You can always look at, you won a series, but it's hard to sweep a team in the big leagues. I always look at as many series as I've played and think about how many sweeps I've had, it's not a whole, whole bunch of them. But you've got to put this one behind you, enjoy the off day and get ready for Detroit.

"That's a big series. We're both in real contention, so there's nothing you can do about it. They played good baseball today, we played good baseball today and we came up on the short end. You want that sweep against them, but we couldn't do nothing about it."

Bourn hit his first Orioles home run leading off the third inning to tie the game 3-3. A passed ball and Jonathan Schoop's sacrifice fly moved them ahead 5-3.

"It was good, (but) I'd rather have it in a winning cause. That's always my main focus," Bourn said.

"I was able to catch one today, but especially when you're in a pennant race, I'd rather win. That's just how it goes. I'm thankful for the home run, but I wanted to get that victory, also."

The Rays tied the score with two runs in the fourth, the Orioles went ahead 6-5 in the top of the fifth on Drew Stubbs' RBI single, but the Rays tied it again in the bottom half against Oliver Drake and went ahead for good with a run in the seventh off Mychal Givens.

"We scored some runs off some guys," said manager Buck Showalter. "When you score six runs you'd like to have a little bit better result."

Dylan Bundy lasted only 3 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and seven hits. He struck out seven batters, but two home runs and Kevin Kiermaier's two-out, two-run single in the fourth were difference-makers.

"Just command," Showalter said. "He struck out, what, six, seven, eight guys? I don't know. His stuff was good. In fact, he was carrying a good fastball today. He jerked a couple of balls for home runs. He was trying to go away and jerked them middle-in where you don't want to throw the ball. He paid the price.

"He wasn't the only one. We bled a little bit out of the pen today."

Questions about Bundy's stamina in September will crop up with each short outing. Showalter doesn't think the rookie is tired.

"We take a look every day at it," Showalter said. "We look at his work day, his body of work. He had some outings where he didn't command the ball as well. So have all the other guys that have thrown 200 innings in their career. Anybody who has got some magic formula on that ... And what's happened sometimes when he's had an outing like that, he's bounced back and had a real good one.

"We're looking at it just like Wally (Dave Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) and I sat down today and looked at all the matchups as we go forward and we'll put our best feet forward, and if we feel like Dylan's the guy, we'll run him out there again."

Bundy wants the ball.

"I was telling the guys today, I felt better today than I have in a couple of my past starts," he said. "I felt great. Arm's not an issue anymore. I'm just trying to get better and watch video and keep doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

"Just battling the whole time (today), ever since pitch one. They were fouling off the pitches that were good and hitting the ones that weren't so good, I thought. Just baseball. Got to get better and watch some video on them and get better."

Kiermaier got ahead 3-1, swung through a changeup and poked his two-run single into left field.

"It was good because it wasn't over the plate, but it would have been ball four and a run would have scored anyway if he didn't swing," Bundy said. "He just stuck his barrel out and hit it. They were on it today. Got to give it up to them."

Giving up the leads haunted the Orioles today.

"Absolutely," Bundy said. "I think I got us down a run and they got back on top and I gave it up again and they got us back on top. You want to go out there and, especially the second or third time, get a shutdown inning. I wasn't able to do it this time. Hopefully, I can do it next time."

Bundy's two starts at Tropicana Field have resulted in nine runs, 12 hits and five home runs in seven innings.

"I actually like pitching here," he said. "I like the mound, I like how close it feels. I have no problem pitching here. It just didn't go my way this time, again."

The Tigers are on the Orioles' tails in the wild card chase, so the next three games are critical. And they're followed by three games in Boston.

Not for the squeamish.

"I know how important they are," Bourn said. "I've been in a pennant race before, so I know what's on the table. You've just got to continue to play one game at a time and continue to try to win a series. We've got two good opponents and we'll take one game at a time. We've got Detroit next, so we'll take a day off and enjoy that and then get ready for Detroit."

The Orioles go from playing a team that was 21 games under .500 before today to one that was 12 above it. But nothing is going to come easily.

"It was challenging coming in here the last three games," Showalter said. "They were playing good baseball. Playing in a venue you've really got to be ready to go. We knew we were going to face good starting pitching and our guys answered it. Now we go into another hostile place.

"I tell our guys to stay focused on how much fun it is to be playing these type of games. Our guys aren't dreading it all. They're looking forward to being in that arena, to being on that stage, because they've earned the right to be there. A lot of clubs would love to change places with us."