O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Twins in series finale

After allowing 11 homers in a doubleheader loss Saturday, the Orioles (8-14) host the Twins (11-7) in the series finale this afternoon.

After posting wins by 6-5 and 16-7 scores yesterday, Minnesota has won eight in a row against the Orioles dating to last season. The Twins are 13-3 versus the Orioles since 2017. Dating to September 2014, Minnesota is 22-8 against Baltimore.

In Saturday's doubleheader, the Orioles and Twins combined to hit 17 home runs. The Orioles hit three in each game while the Twins slugged three in Game 1 and eight in Game 2. According to STATS, LLC., the 17 combined home runs are the most in a doubleheader in major league history. The previous record was 15, held by the Milwaukee Braves and Chicago Cubs on May 30, 1956.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (0-2, 7.79 ERA) will today make his fifth start of 2019. Over his first four he has excelled early in his games but struggled badly from the fourth inning on. For the year, he's thrown 17 1/3 innings, allowing 18 hits, including seven homers, with nine walks and 22 strikeouts.

The Orioles are 1-3 in his starts. Bundy did not allow a homer in his season debut. But now, over his past three games, he's given up seven in 13 2/3 innings. Lefty batters have hit .250 off Bundy while right-handed hitters are batting .282 but with an OPS of 1.191. Right-handers have hit six of the seven homers off Bundy this year.

A look at the stats this year, inning-by-inning, versus Bundy:
First: Allows .083 average and 2.25 ERA.
Second: Allows .071 average and 0.00 ERA.
Third: Allows .250 average and 4.50 ERA.
Fourth: Allows .429 average and 13.51 ERA.
Fifth: Allows .444 average and 9.00 ERA.
Sixth: Allows 1.000 average and an ERA of infinity (2 runs with 0 outs recorded).

Summing up some of the numbers, in the first three innings of his starts in 2019 he has allowed a .143 batting average with an ERA of 2.25. In innings four through six, he yields a .480 batting average and an 15.20 ERA.

Opponent batters have hit just .094 (3-for-32) off Bundy when he faces them the first time through the order. They hit .393 (11-for-28) the second time through the order and bat .571 (4-for-7) the third time.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson (0-0, 7.36 ERA) will make his fourth 2019 start for Minnesota. He's thrown 14 2/3 innings for the year, allowing 18 hits and 12 earned runs with eight walks, 12 strikeouts and with a WHIP of 1.773.

Gibson threw five scoreless innings versus Toronto in his last outing, but then gave up four runs in the sixth while only getting one out before he was replaced. Despite his high ERA, the Twins are 2-1 in his starts.

In his career versus the Orioles, Gibson is 4-2 with a 4.89 ERA.