O'Day on Bundy: "He was born to do what he's doing right now"

Counting the American League wild card game last October, the Toronto Blue Jays went 11-9 against the Orioles last year, scoring 102 runs and hitting 30 homers in the 20 games.

In losing two games to begin the 2017 season at Camden Yards, Toronto scored three runs and didn't hit a single homer. The Blue Jays scored three runs over 12 1/3 innings against Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy and went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the series.

When Bundy got off to a good start when he moved into the starting rotation after the All-Star break last year, O's reliever Darren O'Day said of Bundy: "He was born with a gift to command the baseball. The first bullpen I saw him throw in 2012, it was amazing for such a young kid to have that kind of command. He is showing why he was such a high pick. He's got a great mentality. We enjoyed the time we had with him in the bullpen, but I think he's moved onto better things."

Those comments were made last August. Yesterday before Bundy went out and was dominant over seven innings against the Blue Jays, O'Day was talking up the kid again.

"Dylan is now a quality big league pitcher," O'Day said. "I've told the story a few times about watching him throw his first bullpen when I joined the Orioles. It was pretty impressive and I knew he was going to be good.

"He's had some bumps in the road with health, but he had a big year last year - both in the bullpen and rotation. I think he's ready for this. He's got another weapon this year, so I think he's going to be better than he was last year."

That other weapon is the pitch Bundy unleashed on the Jays last night. We could call it his slider, his cutter or his cutter/slider. That is just semantics, but it was a strong pitch for him last night. So was his curveball and fastball. His changeup was put at times on the back-burner against a heavy right-handed hitting lineup.

"Dylan, you talk to him and not too much bothers him," O'Day said. "He was kind of born to do what he's doing right now, truthfully. He came prepared for this. He's got a good head on his shoulders where maybe some other guys would not have made it through that (coming back from surgery) and he's very self-reliant."

Toronto batters went 0-for-7 to start last night's game against Bundy and then went 3-for-3 with three singles to take a 1-0 lead. From that point on, the Blue Jays went just 1-for-15 with five strikeouts against Bundy.

Last season when Bundy faced a lineup for the third time in a game, he allowed a .633 slugging percentage and a .960 OPS. Last night, he faced Toronto the third time in the sixth and seventh innings. They went 1-for-7 against him and he struck out their third, fourth and fifth hitters getting José Bautista, Kendrys Morales and Troy Tulowitzki.

It was impressive indeed.

O'Day believes Bundy learned at some point last year he doesn't have to try to do too much and that his stuff will play just fine at this level.

"That moment for players comes at different times," O'Day said. "It depends on the player. You can tell a young player many times he is where he belongs and just do what you do to get guys out. But until he realizes that for himself, it doesn't matter what you tell him.

"So you can help him along to find that moment. I think for Dylan he probably had that moment after he had some success in the starting rotation. You could see when he was in the bullpen he was kind of feeling his way along. And figuring out if what he had was going to work. And then he got in the rotation and figured out then when he makes his pitches he is going to get a lot of outs. That is an important moment in any player's career."

So the veteran talked up the kid before yesterday's game, and then the kid went out and made those words prophetic.

Now that Bundy is throwing four pitches, not three, we'll see how the league adjusts to him. His next start is likely to come next Tuesday at Fenway Park and then after that it could be a rematch with the Blue Jays, this time in Toronto on April 16.

With Chris Tillman on the disabled list, the pressure is on the O's young duo of Bundy and Gausman. They certainly delivered big time to start the 2017 season.

After he recorded his 50th consecutive save, Zach Britton was asked how big it would be for the Orioles to have Bundy have more nights like last night.

"It would be huge, obviously," Britton said. "That cutter looked great today. That is a huge weapon for him. He worked on that in spring and you can see the transition. Some of the big hitters in the middle of that order didn't look too good on some of those pitches. Starting off on a good note for any young starter is the way to go."