O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Yankees on "Sunday Night Baseball"

It is certainly not a showcase of two contenders, but for a few hours tonight, the Orioles will be in a national spotlight when they host the New York Yankees. The game will be shown nationally on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball."

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles are 13-18 all-time in ESPN Sunday games.

The Birds will need a win tonight to avoid being swept in four straight by the Yankees. The clubs split their first 12 meetings this season before New York won here Friday night and won both ends of yesterday's day-night doubleheader.

The Orioles (37-93) have lost seven in a row, nine of 10 and 18 of the last 22 games. Their longest losing skid of the year was nine games from June 7-16. The Orioles are 6-9 versus New York and 17-43 in American League East games.

The Yankees (82-47) have won seven of eight and 14 of their last 19 games. They are 37-27 on the road and 33-26 in AL East games. New York owns the majors' best record when scoring first (59-10, .855) and when their starter goes at least six innings (51-7, .879).

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (7-12, 5.31 ERA) takes the mound tonight, looking to reverse a slide that has seen him allow seven earned runs for three straight starts and 43 runs over his past eight starts.

When June came to an end, Bundy's ERA was 3.75. But in eight starts since that point, he is 1-5 with a 9.08 ERA. In 39 2/3 innings, he has allowed 59 hits and 15 homers, with a homer rate of 3.4 per nine innings.

Bundy has allowed 33 homers for the year to lead the majors and that is two off the Orioles' single-season record of 35, which has been done four times, most recently by Jeremy Guthrie in 2009. Bundy has given up six homers the last three games and 13 in his past six. He's allowed two or more homers 10 times.

The one pitch where Bundy is being hit at about the same rate he was in 2017 is against his slider. His average against on that pitch last year was .174 and it's .178 now. But with his four-seam fastball, the batting average increased from .255 last season to .282 in 2018. The averages are dramatically up off his changeup (.234 to .362) and his curveball (.167 to .429). Batters are also slugging so much better against both his changeup (.449 to .725) and his curveball (.381 to .679).

In 15 night game starts, Bundy is 1-11 with a 7.96 ERA, allowing 27 home runs over 74 2/3 innings. In nine day game starts, Bundy is 6-1 with a 2.07 ERA, allowing six homers in 61 innings.

Right-hander Luis Severino (16-6, 3.28 ERA) will make his 27th start for the Yankees. Those stats are strong for Severino, so it might surprise you to learn he has struggled recently. His season ERA was 1.98 through July 1. But in eight starts since, he has just one quality start and is 3-4 with an ERA of 7.02.

In six games since the All-Star break, Severino is 2-4 with a 7.26 ERA. In 20 pre All-Star game starts, he went 14-2 with a 2.31 ERA.

For the year, he has thrown 159 1/3 innings, allowing 143 hits, including 17 homers, with 39 walks, 181 strikeouts and a .238 batting average against.

The Orioles Trey Mancini had a three-hit game last night, his seventh of the year. He also doubled twice in a game for the first time since July 6, 2017 at Minnesota. Mancini is batting .287 in 33 games since the All-Star break.