Matthew Boyd outduels Dylan Bundy as Tigers even series

Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy threw a strong game, recorded a quality start and picked up his 500th career strikeout tonight. And DJ Stewart had three hits in his season debut. But Detroit lefty Matthew Boyd outdueled Bundy and overcame Stewart's strong night.

Boyd threw scoreless ball over six innings plus two batters as the Tigers beat the Orioles 3-0 to even this three-game set a win each. The rubber match is Wednesday night.

Detroit, which had lost three in a row and 12 of its past 13, took a 3-0 lead tonight with single runs in the first, second and fifth innings.

The second batter of the game, left fielder Christin Stewart ripped a double off the right-field wall at 110 mph. Miguel Cabrera scored him with a two-out single for the lead. An RBI double by JaCoby Jones in the second made it 2-0. A Niko Goodrum one-out solo home run in the fifth extended that to 3-0. Goodrum got under a fly ball to right and it hit the top of the grounds crew's shed in right-center for his fourth homer. That ended a 15-inning run with no homers allowed by O's pitching.

Bundy gave up seven hits and three runs over seven innings on 89 pitches, which was his second-longest outing of the year. But he took the loss to fall to 2-6 with an ERA of 4.58. He walked none and fanned eight. His eighth strikeout, a 93 mph fastball past Grayson Grenier in the seventh, was his 500th career strikeout.

With his last start in May now behind him, he ends the month pitching to an ERA of 2.64. Over his past seven starts, Bundy's ERA is 3.24. His fastball velocity averaged 91 mph tonight and topped at 93 mph.

Boyd recorded his second straight scoreless start and ninth quality start in 12 games. As a staff, the O's have 11 quality starts after Bundy's outing tonight. Boyd, who began the game fourth in the American League in WHIP, fifth in strikeouts and ninth in innings ,improves to 5-4 with a 2.85 ERA.

The Orioles were held to six singles and shut out for the fourth time. They had two on with no outs in the seventh, but failed to score. They left two on in the eighth and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position on the night with eight left on base.

Stewart went 3-for-4 after being called up from Triple-A before the game. He was batting .456 this month to lead all of the minors and .316 for the year for the Norfolk Tides. Tonight was his 18th career major league game and first with three hits. That raised his career average to .295.

The Orioles were seeking their first two-game win streak since May 4-6. They are 17-38 and have lost nine of 11, 12 of 15 and 22 of their past 29 games. Detroit, winning for the second time in its last 14 games, is 20-32.