Santana goes distance to shut out Orioles 2-0 (with quotes)

This is how it's supposed to be and how the Orioles need it to be if they're going to remain in contention. Not the final score, but the performance of their starting pitcher.

Dylan Bundy retired the Twins in order tonight in the first inning on only 12 pitches, striking out two batters. Twelve pitches, doubling the amount thrown by Ervin Santana in the bottom half, but still plenty impressive.

Bundy needed only nine pitches to get through the third and 11 in the fourth, keeping him engaged in a spirited duel with Santana.

A leadoff walk and follow-up single in the fifth brought the first serious sign of trouble - runners on the corners with no outs - and the Twins capitalized with an RBI single from Byron Buxton, the No. 9 hitter who was batting .172. But Bundy limited the damage, another admirable trait.

As a light rain continued to fall - like Santana, it wouldn't let up - Bundy maintained his streak of completing six innings in all 10 outings this season. But he had to settle for being the second-best starter tonight, as the Twins assured themselves of a series win by defeating the Orioles 2-0 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (25-19) have lost three in a row and nine of their last 12. They were shut out for the second time this season, but they could remain 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees, who trail the Royals 6-2 in the eighth.

Santana has allowed one earned run or fewer in eight of his 10 starts. He held the Orioles to two hits while going the distance, increasing his season total to 31 in 70 innings.

Bundy allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, with three walks, seven strikeouts and a home run. Brian Dozier took him deep with the bases empty and two outs in the seventh to increase the lead to 2-0.

Richard Bleier entered the game in the eighth, after Bundy had thrown 107 pitches, 68 for strikes. Bundy's only clean inning was the first, but he posted his ninth quality start.

The bottom part of the order hurt Bundy through the fifth inning. No. 7 hitter Jorge Polanco walked twice, Jason Castro singled and Buxton walked and singled. Castro was batting .198.

Max Kepler and Kennys Vargas, occupying the fifth and sixth spots, each had a double. Meanwhile, the top four hitters were a combined 0-for-11 with five strikeouts through the fifth.

The leadoff walk to Polanco with the game scoreless wasn't advisable.

Bundy almost allowed three hits in the fifth, but Buxton held up on Robbie Grossman's fly ball to shallow center field and Adam Jones threw him out at second for the 8-4 force. Joe Mauer struck out, and Bundy was back in the dugout at 78 pitches.

Though Dozier reached him for the home run in the seventh, Bundy lowered his ERA to 2.92 in 64 2/3 innings.

Santana threw six pitches in the first, six in the sixth and seven in the seventh. The guy's in a zone, and not just the strike zone.

Welington Castillo singled with two outs in the second inning and Jonathan Schoop singled with one out in the fifth. Santana also walked two batters, and he retired the last 14 that he faced.

The Orioles will try to avoid the sweep Wednesday afternoon with Chris Tillman on the mound. Tillman will try to mimic Bundy, minus the lack of run support.

Here's a sampling from manager Buck Showalter:

On Santana: "I think he's, what, second in the league in ERA coming into tonight? He's been a good pitcher. Still frustrating night for our guys. We didn't have many opportunities. Dylan was really good. There's a certain rhythm to the defense when you're pitching like that. First play that Jonathan made in the first inning. There's a tempo and something you always stress with your pitchers. Those plays seem to be made behind guys with that type of tempo and throwing strikes. But Dylan was really good.

"I thought Richard (Bleier), that's the kind of guy we thought ... It was good to get him a couple innings under his belt, turn those switch-hitters around. They're a tough team. They've got a lot weapons, well put-together roster, a lot of pieces that fit."

On benefit of having pitcher go deep even if struggling: "There's just a rhythm to it, but like I've said many times, your momentum is who's pitching for you and who you're facing. You can be swinging the bats as good as can be swung and you get a guy like that on top of his game and it can make you look that way. That's what's frustrating about last night, because you knew you had two pitchers that had kind of been struggling. One of them was going to kind of semi-right the ship and one of them wasn't."

On Bundy's growth as a pitcher: "The thing that made him so intriguing to a lot of people coming out of the draft is that he was more than a thrower then, and it was plus stuff. I've talked to a lot of people who saw him in high school and his first year, but there's a couple outs there that some people aren't getting. The strikeout of Mauer there to keep it at one, pitching that seventh inning. Even the sixth, he got through it and had some manageable pitch counts. He found some things that worked.

"(Miguel) Sanó, you see the RBIs, and he pitched him as well as he can be pitched, and he's on top of his game, too, offensively. Pitcher's on top of his game, hitters on top of their games, the pitcher wins most times."

On not needing to use many relievers: "We're in pretty good shape down there physically since we've gone to a seventh pitcher. We had Dylan being pretty consistent about getting deeper in the game with a few exceptions."

More on Santana: "He had really gone to a two-seamer in a lot more this year and tonight he actually threw his changeup a lot and he had a little a four-seamer that he was running up in the zone a little bit. That was effective. Sometimes, you get into points where some hitters are struggling with struggling. We've got some guys who, we've had a competitive start to the season without a lot of the things clicking that you think will and can."