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

HOUSTON - The Orioles' road trip has begun with back-to-back losses here. They need a win this afternoon at Minute Maid Park to avoid getting swept before the trip moves on to Yankee Stadium.

Opening day starter Dylan Bundy returns to the mound this afternoon, pitching with an extra day of rest. Against the Twins on Thursday, Bundy threw seven scoreless innings in a no-decision. The Orioles won in 11 innings on Adam Jones' walk-off home run.

Bundy gave up just five singles in the opener. He walked one, fanned seven and was pitch efficient, throwing 88 pitches with 64 strikes. His slider was on as he got 12 swings and misses on 24 sliders versus Minnesota.

Bundy went 13-9 with a 4.24 ERA in 28 starts over 169 2/3 innings last season. He recorded 19 quality starts to rank tied for eighth in the American League and was ninth with a .240 batting average against. Bundy, the Orioles' first-round pick (No. 4 overall) in 2011, turned 25 in November. He is under team control through the 2021 season.

He has made just two appearances versus Houston in his career, going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA. Over 5 1/3 innings, he has allowed 10 hits and eight runs.

His mound opponent is left-hander Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 AL Cy Young winner and the Astros' opening day starter from 2015-17. The Orioles are facing former Cy Young winners back-to-back after Justin Verlander got the start last night for Houston.

Keuchel began the year second in the rotation behind Verlander. He took a 5-1 loss Friday at Texas. Over six innings, he gave up seven hits and three runs, throwing 99 pitches.

In 2017, the lefty went 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA, the second-lowest of his career. He posted a career-best 67.3 groundball rate. Keuchel, who is 9 1/3 innings shy of 1,000 for his career, is 12-5 with an ERA of 2.45 in 26 career April games.

In his only start last season versus Baltimore, he pitched six innings, allowing one run, to get a win. In six career starts against the Orioles, he is 3-2 with an ERA of 2.93, a 1.050 WHIP and has allowed just three homers over 40 innings.

The Orioles are 1-4 and have allowed 29 runs during a four-game losing streak. They have lost eight in a row at Minute Maid Park. Houston is 5-1, the club's best six-game start since the 1997 team also went 5-1.