O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces the Nationals

The Orioles host the Washington Nationals tonight in the second game of a three-game interleague series and a seven-game homestand at Oriole Park.

The Nationals took the series opener 6-0 Monday as Anthony Rendon hit a three-run homer off Alex Cobb. Lefty Gio Gonzalez pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings to improve to 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 of his 11 starts this season.

Shortstop Manny Machado singled in the first inning and has now hit safely in 18 of 22 career games against Washington. He is averaging .333 (30-for-90) with five home runs and 13 RBIs against the Nationals for his career.

Center fielder Adam Jones recorded his 13th double of the season with his shot to right field in the sixth and also singled in the eighth inning for his 15th multi-hit game. Jones is a career .322 (66-for-205) batter against Washington. He has hit safely in 41 of 49 career games against the Nationals and the Orioles are 30-19 in the 49 games. In 24 games in May, Jones has gone 32-for-99 (.323), hitting safely in 20 games during the month.

The Orioles have gone three games without a homer to tie a season-high homerless stretch. They have not hit one in five of their past seven games. The Orioles are 1-19 when not hitting a home run.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (3-6, 4.45 ERA) will make his 12th start of the season. On Thursday at Chicago, Bundy threw a 121-pitch complete-game two-hitter in a 9-3 win.

Bundy fanned 14 White Sox batters and came one whiff short of the Orioles' single-game record of 15 strikeouts, done three times. Mike Mussina fanned 15 Minnesota Twins batters on Aug. 1, 2000 and 15 Boston Red Sox batters on Sept. 24, 2000. On July 7, 2007, Erik Bedard fanned 15 against the Texas Rangers.

"That's as good as you're going to see a guy pitch," manager Buck Showalter said of Bundy's game against the White Sox. "Especially when you see a guy three times, four times, five times around the order. That gives you an idea of the kind of repertoire he had today working for him. It was fun to watch. He had a good tempo. Strong. That was a good, old-school outing."

Of his 121 pitches, Bundy threw 63 four-seam fastballs that averaged 92 mph. He got swings and misses on 21 pitches, including 10 of 25 sliders. He mixed in 20 curveballs.

This will be Bundy's first start versus a National League team in 2018. He has gone 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA in his first four career interleague starts.

Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-0, 2.13 ERA) will make his eighth start for the Nats. He had a 4.11 ERA after his first three starts, but is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.79 over his last four games, allowing two earned runs in 22 2/3 innings. For the year, Hellickson has thrown 38 innings allowing 28 hits with six walks and 31 strikeouts.

This is much better than he pitched for the Orioles last year, when he went 2-6 with a 6.97 ERA in 10 starts. He has lowered his WHIP from those 10 starts over his eight this year from 1.277 to 0.895. He's lowered his homers/nine innings from 2.3 to 0.7, his walks from 3.0 to 1.4 and his hits per nine from 8.5 to 6.6.

Triple-A Norfolk has placed outfielder DJ Stewart on the disabled list, retroactive to March 27, with a right hamstring injury.