Renewing old friendships: Dylan Bundy on his time with O's

After the Orioles traded him to the Los Angeles Angels for four minor league pitchers on Dec. 4, 2019, Dylan Bundy got a fresh start with a new club. The Orioles were the only team he had known. They drafted him No. 4 overall in 2011 and brought him to the big leagues.

After pledging to throw his slider more, Bundy had a strong 2020 season, going 6-3 with a 3.29 ERA for the Angels. He finished ninth in the American League Cy Young voting. But the results have not been there this year, with the slider or overall. He is 1-7 with a 6.58 ERA.

"The goal was to throw the slider more (in 2020), and this year, it is not moving quite the same," Bundy said on a Zoom interview last night with O's media. "Last year, I was able to locate the ball better than this season."

Bundy was recently demoted to a bullpen role. In his first 'pen outing earlier this week, he threw two scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium.

As for his time as an Oriole, he went 38-45 with an ERA of 4.67 and a WHIP of 1.330. He dealt with the hype of being a top draft pick and top 100 prospect, a comeback from Tommy John surgery and eventually a trade to a new club.

Bundy has a lot of good memories of his time with the Orioles.

"It starts with being drafted by them in high school, and being in that organization with my brother (Bobby)," he said. "Going to spring training with my brother, getting to the big leagues in 2012 and then everybody knows the injuries happened. Got to the big leagues and kind of stayed there and became a starting pitcher with that organization. A lot of good memories there. You know I'm going to remember that place and remember where I started my journey at. Baltimore is a big part of that."

This weekend, he is getting to see some former teammates.

"It's different. Not really sure what I was expecting," said Bundy, the O's first-round draft pick in 2011. "I guess maybe because it's two years ago instead of kind of going to Baltimore last year or them coming here. A different feeling, I guess. I wasn't sure what to feel being two years ago."

Bundy is trying to battle his way back into the Angels rotation. He was asked about his first outing in the bullpen recently.

"I didn't throw up, so it was positive," he said with a laugh. TV cameras recently caught Bundy vomiting on the mound.

"I was hot. Just didn't feel good. You can hear the crowd when it comes out. That was not enjoyable."

But hopefully this weekend was better for him as he renewed some old friendships with his former O's teammates.

O's lose Saturday night: The Orioles had scored seven runs in the opening game of their series in Anaheim and 34 runs over their previous four games, but they were held to five singles in last night's 4-1 loss.

Right-hander Alex Cobb allowed one run over 7 2/3 against his former team, which is now 27-56. Click here for Saturday's game story.

Meanwhile, manager Brandon Hyde keeps hoping for more innings out of his starters. Right-hander Jorge López didn't get some close calls in the first inning last night and gave up four runs over 4 2/3 innings.

"I'm already unbelievably concerned about (too many) innings out of our bullpen," he said. "When we haven't gone five innings in a start, I think it's now six games, I've got to try and push limits with guys because we're not going to have the innings in August and September. It's extremely challenging. He gets two outs in the fifth, I'm praying he gets the third out. Lot of times that's not happening. But that's kind of who we have right now. If I go to the bullpen in the third and fourth inning every night we're going to be out of pitchers."

Hyde did get a solid outing from right-hander Isaac Mattson, one of the pitchers that came to Baltimore in the Bundy trade. He threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings on 26 pitches.

"Isaac showed a really good fastball tonight," said Hyde. "He came in with two runners on, maybe a little bit antsy. Pitching against some familiar faces with the Angels. So the command was a little bit erratic, but he got out of it in that eighth inning. Threw some really nice pitches in the ninth. Isaac's got a really good arm, throwing 96 or 97 (mph)."

Minor league honors: The Orioles announced that first baseman JD Mundy and lefty pitcher Cameron Bishop were the recipients of the O's Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Month Awards for June, respectively.

Mundy, who appeared in 21 games for high Single-A Aberdeen, slashed .284/.348/.667 with a 1.015 OPS, going 23-for-81 with seven doubles, eight home runs, 19 runs and 20 RBIs. Mundy started the season with low Single-A Delmarva, before being promoted to Aberdeen on June 1. Bishop pitched to a 2-0 record with a 0.00 ERA (zero earned runs/22 innings pitched) and 32 strikeouts. He posted a 0.77 WHIP with a .139 opponent batting average in five games for Double-A Bowie in June.