O's game blog: Dylan Bundy and O's go for sweep against Mets

As the Orioles look for a two-game sweep of the New York Mets tonight, they will also look for right-hander Dylan Bundy (7-10, 4.70 ERA) to get back on track.

In his last start versus Boston, Bundy went five innings and allowed eight hits and eight runs (seven earned). Over his past six starts since the beginning of July, Bundy is 1-3 with a 7.72 ERA and has allowed 11 homers. He has yielded nine homers his past four starts. This stretch comes after Bundy went 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in June. He ended the month with his season ERA at 3.75 and it is now nearly a run higher.

Bundy leads the majors with 29 homers allowed - three more than Barolo Colon of Texas and Jakob Junis of Kansas City. Bundy has allowed 2.1 homers per nine innings this year. That mark for him was 1.5 in 2016 and 1.4 in 2017. Bundy allows a higher homer rate at Oriole Park this year at 2.3 than on the road, where his rate is 1.8 per nine.

But when Bundy faced the Mets on June 6, he threw seven scoreless innings on three hits and 96 pitches. Bundy has thrown four scoreless starts in 2018. He's made five career starts against National League East opponents, four of which have come this season. He is 4-1 with a 3.16 ERA in those games with four quality starts. He is making his ninth career start against the NL and is 6-2 with a 2.88 ERA.

The Orioles rank among American League and major league leaders in several major offensive categories since the All-Star break, including ranking first in the majors in batting average at .285. The O's have recorded 227 hits in 23 games, ranking third in the AL. The Orioles have hit 40 home runs since the break to rank second in the majors and AL, and the club's .487 slugging percentage leads the majors since the break, while its 128 runs scored rank fourth in the AL and sixth in the majors.

The Orioles (36-84) are 1-4 on the homestand that ends tonight and 21-39 at Oriole Park. O's pitchers have recorded four quality starts over the past eight games with a rotation ERA of 3.72 in that span.

The Mets (50-67) lost last night for the fourth time in 10 games. They are 26-30 on the road, 0-3 versus the Orioles and 6-10 in interleague games.

Right-hander Zack Wheeler (7-6, 3.82 ERA) will make his 23rd start. He has allowed two earned runs or less for four consecutive starts, going 4-0 with a 1.33 ERA. Wheeler averages 2.9 walks per nine innings with 8.9 strikeouts and with a 1.221 WHIP. In 10 road starts, he is 4-1 with a 3.66 ERA.

On the farm today, Triple-A Norfolk won 8-3 at Pawtucket as outfielder Mike Yastrzemski hit two homers, including his first career grand slam, and drove in six runs. It was Yastrzemski's first multi-homer game since June 1, 2014 when he was with Single-A Delmarva. And, yes, his big game came against a Red Sox affiliate. His six RBIs tied his career high. Winning pitcher Luis Ortiz allowed one run in five innings and is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA in three starts since joining Norfolk.