The later sunset must have tricked Dylan Bundy into thinking that he was working a day game.
The night version hasn't been nearly as effective this season, with Bundy sporting a 7.68 ERA and 1.706 WHIP in seven starts heading into the series opener against the Red Sox. Meanwhile, the pitcher who's earned the moniker "Sunny" carried a 1.08 ERA and 0.888 WHIP in six early outings.
Putting aside that first pitch was 7:06 p.m., Bundy shut out the Red Sox tonight on three hits through eight innings. His only issue was a complete lack of run support.
The Orioles stranded 13 runners, never touching home plate, and Brock Holt's sacrifice fly off Mychal Givens in the 12th inning broke a scoreless tie in the Red Sox's 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 15,934 at Camden Yards.
Jackie Bradley Jr. added a sacrifice fly after the runners moved up on Adam Jones' throw home, and the Orioles fell to 19-46 with their fifth loss in a row. They're 3-4 in extras.
The Orioles were held to one run or fewer for the 19th time this season and shut out for the seventh.
Brad Brach retired five batters before departing with two on and two outs in the 11th, Givens walked J.D. Martinez and fell behind 3-0 to Mitch Moreland before striking him out. But Givens loaded the bases with no outs in the 12th on Xander Bogaerts' single, Rafael Devers' double and a pitch that nailed Eduardo Núñez.
Givens walked in the winning run Saturday in Toronto. He was undone tonight by two fly balls.
Craig Gentry led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a walk off Craig Kimbrel and stole second with one out. He stayed there. The last seven outs were recorded via strikeouts.
The Orioles had a chance to end the game in regulation after Jace Peterson walked with two outs and stole second base. Pedro Ãlvarez, pinch-hitting for Joey Rickard, struck out to send the game into extras.
Trey Mancini struck out against Brandon Workman to strand two runners in the 10th.
Going back to his May 29 start against the Nationals, Bundy hasn't allowed a run in his last 17 innings. He threw 104 pitches tonight and completed the eighth by retiring Mookie Betts on a fly ball near the left field warning track as Givens and Richard Bleier warmed in the bullpen. Bundy walked two batters, struck out seven and lowered his ERA to 3.66.
Bundy retired eight in a row before Andrew Benintendi's leadoff single in the fourth. He limited his pitches to eight in the second, 10 in the third and five in the fourth, with a 4-6-3 double play getting him back into the dugout.
As the fifth inning concluded, Bundy was up to 55 pitches and the game remained scoreless.
"We call him 'Sunny.' We're trying to come up with a nickname for him," said manager Buck Showalter.
"I have my own theories on it, probably not right. He's a guy who's an early riser anyway. I just think there's an intensity level in those games a lot that Dylan brings that some guys don't have.
"Now that we jinxed him, his next day game he won't get out of the first inning."
Benintendi had both hits off Bundy heading into the seventh. He walked with two outs in the sixth and stole second base, but Martinez struck out.
Bogaerts reached on an infield hit with one out in the seventh after Moreland flied to the center field fence. Bundy struck out Devers, his fastball only reaching 90 mph, and retired Núñez on a grounder.
Bundy shut out the Mets on three hits over seven innings in his last start and the Orioles held on for a 1-0 win. Knuckleballer Steven Wright blanked them on four hits tonight through 6 2/3 innings, including two singles from Jones.
Jones walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but Jonathan Schoop lined to deep center field and Wright retired the next two batters.
Chance Sisco was hit for the ninth time this season with two outs in the seventh inning, Peterson reached on a bunt single and Rickard walked. Joe Kelly replaced Wright and struck out Jones on a 97 mph fastball.
It must have looked like 197 compared to Wright's knuckler.
Chris Davis struck out three times tonight to give him 86 this season and leave him only 17 behind Cal Ripken Jr. for the club record of 1,305. Davis has struck out 43 times since hitting his last home run on May 9.
Going hitless in five at-bats lowered his average to .150.
Bleier retired the side in order in the ninth with two strikeouts before Brach took over in the 10th. The bench was thin with Manny Machado unable to play due to an illness. The margin for error was thinner with the offense again under wraps.
Zach Britton warmed twice but didn't pitch. The Orioles tossed a collective shutout through the 11th and didn't win.
Update: Showalter said Machado began to feel better as the game progressed and could play Tuesday night. Machado sat in the dugout instead of returning home.
"I think so," Showalter said. "That stuff is different. Young people heal a lot quicker. I'm hoping that he's able to play tomorrow. I was hoping by giving him today ... Earlier in the day he looked pretty rough. But actually, as the game went on, I was asking him how he was feeling. I have hopes that he'll be a player tomorrow."
Showalter on lack of offense again: "They're a good pitching staff. What did we leave, about 12 guys out there. We walked, what, seven-ish? Hit by pitch. So, we had plenty of opportunities. We just couldn't get that hit that's been eluding us for it seems like quite a while.
"Dylan was as good as you want to see. It's a really tough lineup to go through and he was outstanding. Richard was good. Just held them off as long as we could. It's tough to hold that lineup down that many innings."
Showalter on whether Bundy is looking elite: "I think we've all felt like that he could. I think he kind of sticks out sometimes as one of those guys who can do that. And much of it's got to do with his mindset and just his presentation. That's why you pitch guys like that on opening day.
"A lot of people, 'OK, the club is struggling and you're facing the Red Sox.' He wants that challenge, he doesn't back off from it. He's always had that kind of elite mindset that you look for in all players, especially guys you want to be taking the ball every fifth day in a meaningful situation. But regardless of what's going on, he's so self-driven. He's a baseball player that's a pitcher. That's as big a compliment that I can give him."
Showalter on Givens' command issues: "He loses it for a little while. He's pitched well and he goes through some periods, but he always back on track. Like hitters, you can get where you want something too much and kind of emotional part of it gets in the way of it. He's got great stuff. You look at his body of work and when he gets done last season and this season it will be good. It hasn't been the last couple times."
Showalter on when he was going to use Britton: "I really was trying to stay away from him unless we could get the right situation. We ran out of pitchers. I wasn't going to pitch Darren (O'Day) two days in a row and (Miguel) Castro needed another day. We had to have some length for tomorrow.
"If we had played another inning he would have come in. Or I think that was Mike's last hitter. I wouldn't have let him go past 30. He was a hitter or so away from coming in. In some ways that was good for him to get the juices flowing. I was hoping for a better situation but the game doesn't always cooperate."
Showalter on Bundy relying more on fastballs: "He's got two different ones, too. And you'll see him all of sudden go get 94, 95 some when he needs it and he feels there's a need. When you see starting pitchers in today's game going into the fourth time in the order, let alone three times, that tells you they've got some other things working.
"He's really got two fastballs that he's kind of using. When he goes in a little more four-seam. He'll get some outs on the two-seam, actually a little form of a BP fastball. He threw a couple curveball strikes. Not many. But the slider was there when they were trying to cheat the location with the fastball. He didn't throw a lot of changeups tonight for a lineup that had four or five left-handed hitters in it. That can tell you either he didn't have a good feel for it or he felt comfortable with the other pitches."
Showalter on Davis: "I never not think that it can start tomorrow for Chris. I know how that may look to some people out there, but I'm going to keep that mindset. We're going to keep working, trying to get it going. I know it's frustrating for him and for everybody watching it that wants him and us to do better. But it's a rough stretch for him, that's for sure."
Showalter on Pedro Araujo: "Pete came up with a sore elbow after his outing yesterday. Actually he told Ramon he had kind of been feeling it, but not to that extent. Back in Tampa is the first we heard of it. So, he's going be down a little while until that cleans up. I know they got an MRI today. So, you find a lot of things.
"We don't think there's anything structurally wrong, but they see some inflammation there and we're hoping it's just something that will manage itself. I know what timeframe they gave me, but I don't want to throw that out there yet."
Showalter on how much Wright's knuckler influenced Orioles issues: "It's tough to tell the way we're swinging the bats. Early on we hit some balls sharp on the button right at them. Usually that's a good sign for things to come off a knuckleballer. When you get the weak popups with not much height on them and top balls, you go, 'This could be a tough challenge.' But it wasn't that way early on and then it kind of became that way.
"Anxiety sets in for us not scoring runs. Give him some credit, but there were some other things working in his favor that we're providing."
Bundy on outing: "I felt all right. I felt like me and Chance (Sisco) had good command of the fastball today, especially in to most of those guys. So, we were able to play off that."
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