O's game blog: Dylan Bundy on the mound in homestand finale

After they lost three straight to the Yankees and two of three to the Oakland Athletics in this current series, the Orioles host the A's again this afternoon. The game marks the end of this four-game series and seven-game homestand before a road trip begins in Boston Friday night.

The Orioles beat Oakland 12-4 Monday, but lost the last two nights by 13-2 and 10-3 scores. During this homestand, O's pitching has allowed 23 homers and 56 runs.

MLB leaders, homers allowed:

32 - Orioles
23 - Boston, Milwaukee, Arizona
22 - Chicago Cubs

Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy (0-0, 7.36 ERA) will make his third start of 2019 and first against a team that is not the Yankees. In those first two games he went a total of 7 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and six runs, two homers and seven walks, posting nine strikeouts. The O's are 1-1 in those starts.

Lefty batters have hit .300 against Bundy, right-handed hitters are batting .278. Bundy has yielded an average of .200 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

So far he has thrown his four-seam fastball 57 percent of the time at an average velocity of 90.92 mph. He's throwing his slider 19 percent (down from 25 percent last year) and his changeup 16 percent (up from 10 percent last season).

Right-hander Aaron Brooks (1-1, 4.09 ERA) will make his third start of the new season for the A's. Over 11 innings he has given up 11 hits and five runs with two walks, eight strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.182. Brooks threw six scoreless against Boston in his first start. In his second, he went five innings at Houston, allowing nine hits and five runs on 91 pitches.

The 28-year-old Brooks throws his two-seam sinker 33 percent of the time (at 92.4 mph), his four-seamer 25 percent (at 92.8), his slider 22 percent (at 86.3) and his changeup 16 percent (at 85.1).

Farm notes: After scoring just 10 runs its first six games, Triple-A Norfolk broke out with nine runs last night. But when the Tides allowed two in the last of the ninth at Charlotte, they lost 10-9 to fall to 1-6. Stevie Wilkerson went 1-for-3 with two walks, three runs and two RBIs. He has hit safely in five of the six games this season, and his solo shot in the second inning marked his first home run since June 26, 2018 versus Gwinnett. Starter Gabriel Ynoa allowed six runs and eight hits over six innings. Norfolk opens its home season at Harbor Park tonight at 6:35 p.m. against Toledo.

Double-A Bowie also lost via a walk-off run, 3-2, at Richmond. Baltimorean Bruce Zimmermann got the start, allowing two hits and one run over five innings. Outfielder Yusniel Diaz went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI and is batting .250. That was his first multi-extra-base-hit game since last Aug. 3. The Baysox host Harrisburg tonight at 6:35 p.m. for their home opener.

Right-hander Michael Baumann pitched five scoreless innings on one hit with 10 strikeouts, but Single-A Frederick lost a big lead and fell 11-8 to Fayetteville. At 1-6, the Keys are off to their slowest start since the 2004 team began 1-8. Jomar Reyes and Ryan Ripken homered for the Keys. Infielder Mason McCoy had another two-hit game. It was his fifth multi-hit performance this season and he has now hit safely in six of the seven games. McCoy is riding a five-game hitting streak and is batting .416 (10-for-24) during this span.

Single-A Delmarva beat Kannapolis 2-1 and at 4-1 is the only O's affiliate with a winning record. Starter Hector Guance gave up one run over 4 2/3 and righty Tyler Joyner got the win with 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Adam Hall went 2-for-4 with an RBI and catcher Daniel Fajardo threw out three runners.

The O's four farm teams have a combined 8-17 record.