O's game blog: Bundy faces Boston (Bundy and O's beat Boston)

The Orioles begin a four-game series tonight at Boston's Fenway Park. The Orioles won all three series there last season, going 6-3. They went 1-1 this year in a two-game series on April 11-12, losing the series opener 8-1 and then winning the next night 12-5.

Since the 2012 season, the Orioles are 57-42 (.576) against the Red Sox. Since that season in Boston, the Orioles have a record of 30-19 (.612).

After splitting that series in Boston and taking two of three from the Red Sox earlier at Camden Yards, the Orioles are 3-2 in 2017 against the Red Sox. The clubs will play seven more games each in Boston and Baltimore during the regular season.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (3-1, 1.65 ERA) will make his sixth start of the year and his third against Boston in the series opener.

Bundy has recorded five quality starts in five outings this season. Only Dallas Keuchel, with six, has more quality starts among all American League starting pitchers. That leads an Orioles staff that has 12 as a team. Wade Miley ranks second with three quality starts while Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jiménez, Alec Asher and Jayson Aquino have one each.

Bundy ranks sixth in the American League in ERA. He is ninth in WHIP (0.98), tied for 10th in innings (32 2/3) and tied for fourth in Wins Above Replacement (1.6). The Orioles are 4-1 in his games.

Over his past three starts, Bundy has an ERA of 0.93 with two runs allowed in 19 1/3 innings. In two starts in 2017 against Boston he has thrown 13 1/3 innings with 13 hits, three runs, three walks and six strikeouts.

Right-hander Rick Porcello (1-3, 4.75 ERA) tonight will make his sixth start of the year, his fourth at home and first against the Orioles for Boston.

He has four quality starts and one terrible one in which he allowed eight runs in 4 1/3 on April 14 against Tampa Bay. In two starts since then he has pitched 13 2/3, allowing 11 hits and six runs (two earned) for an ERA of 1.32.

Porcello was the 2016 AL Cy Young Award Winner, going 22-4 with an ERA 3.15 and WHIP of 1.009 in 223 innings. The Red Sox went 25-8 in his starts then and are 2-3 this year. In 2016, Porcello made three starts versus Baltimore, going 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA. In 15 career starts, he is 4-8 with a 4.88 ERA.

Farm notes: Single-A Frederick third baseman Jomar Reyes is expected to have surgery this week. He'll have a pin inserted in his broken right pinky finger and is likely be out for six to eight weeks.

Reyes' injury was first reported by my MASNSports.com colleague Roch Kutbatko, who reported over the weekend that the injury happened when Reyes punched a wall. A Major League Baseball source confirms that report. It reportedly happened after Friday's game, when Reyes had two hits and drove in two runs.

The injury comes at a time when the 20-year-old Reyes is off to a solid start for the Keys. Over 21 games, he's batting .321/.361/.436 with six doubles, a homer and 10 RBIs.

Frederick is also currently without outfielder Austin Hays, out with a hamstring cramp. But he should only miss a few games. The club's third-round pick last year out of Jacksonville University, Hays is batting .341/.360/.529 with a double, three triples, three homers and 14 RBIs for the Keys.

Meanwhile, outfielder Mike Yastrzemski will join Triple-A Norfolk tomorrow. He's been rehabbing at extended spring training after he had some pretty extensive core and hip labrum surgical repairs over the winter. Last year, between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, Yastrzemski hit .234/.325/.391 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs in 127 games.

By the way, Bundy has impressed MASN's Jim Palmer, who tweeted:

Present Cy ,Porcello vs Bundy, future Cy?. Third start of 2017 vs Red Sox 4 Dylan. Has handled them well. #midtermexam @masnOrioles @orioles

-- Jim Palmer (@Jim22Palmer) May 1, 2017

O's win in Beantown: The Orioles got another very solid outing from Bundy and the team was thrilled to see it. The Boston Red Sox unraveled on defense and the Orioles were OK with that too.

Bundy went seven-innings plus, allowing five hits and two runs on a career-high 111 pitches as the O's beat Boston 5-2. They take the opener of a four-game series.

The Orioles improved to 16-8 and moved one game ahead of the Yankees for first place. New York lost 7-1 to Tampa Bay.

Bundy improves to 4-1 with an ERA of 1.82 and the Orioles are 5-1 over his six starts. In his past four starts, Bundy has allowed four runs over 26 1/3 for an ERA of 1.37.

The Red Sox made three errors in the eighth, when the Orioles scored three runs to turn a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 advantage. Then Boston got on the board with two runs in the last of the eighth.

Manny Machado hit a solo homer off losing pitcher Rick Porcello and drove in two. He made several great defensive plays tonight, and the game ended with a Machado diving catch. Hard to write a better script.

The Orioles are 2-1 this year at Fenway Park and are 31-19 (.620) at FP since the 2012 season.