Sizing up Dylan Bundy's year and Trey Mancini's huge game

TORONTO - When O's right-hander Dylan Bundy took the ball last night against the Blue Jays he made his 30th start of the 2019 season, a number that leads the team. He led the team last year with 31.

While there are certainly more important stats than that, Bundy said taking the ball almost every start and being available to his team was very important to him. This is something that started with the Orioles when center fielder Adam Jones was here. It was important to, as the players say, "post up" every day.

And that number is important for Bundy.

"Absolutely," he said. "Your goal as a starter each year is 32-33 starts. I missed one with the knee thing. But, you know, 30 starts is a good milestone for any starting pitcher. And I like to do that for my teammates as well."

Last night Bundy gave the Orioles seven strong innings, allowing three hits and two runs as they beat Toronto 11-4 and he improved to 7-14 with a 4.79 ERA. Over his last 10 starts, Bundy has an ERA of 3.99. In five 2019 games against the Blue Jays he went 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA.

Yesterday's start might have been Bundy's last for the year. He would be on regular four days' rest on Sunday at Boston in Game 162, but manager Brandon Hyde said he is not sure yet if Bundy will get that start. Hyde was thrilled to get seven innings from Bundy after his bullpen pitched 11 2/3 innings the previous night.

"There's so many guys, obviously, that I wanted to stay away from tonight, Hyde said, "and even in September, we were a little bit short just because of the amount of pitchers we used last night, and their workload that they've had recently. So for Dylan to give us seven, even strong enough to go deeper - offense kind of knocked him out there for the eighth inning - but huge for us, huge for our bullpen. This year we haven't had guys make starts into the seventh inning very often."

In fact, last night was just the 15th time that an O's starter has gone seven or more, and the club is 13-2 in those games. It was the fourth time Bundy has done that.

Before last night's game, Hyde was asked to evaluate Bundy's season.

"I thought a lot better after his initial starts," the manager said. "He had some rough starts early and changed his pitch mix a little bit. Has gotten stronger as the year has gone on. He had kind of a tough time early in that fifth-, sixth-inning range. I just feel like he's improved over the course of the year.

"He's been really valuable for us in a lot of ways. We are lacking experience throughout our roster, and he's been here for a for years now. He can help guys in certain ways, kind of get through this last month, especially. Dylan has been rock steady for us. I hope he takes what he improved on this year into next year."

Trey Mancini, who had his first career five-hit game, said he appreciated Bundy's work through the entire season.

"He's been our workhorse all year, from start to finish," Mancini said. "He's such a competitor. He goes out there and fights every game, whether he has his stuff or not. He gives us everything he has. He's definitely our bulldog on the mound out there."

Speaking of the Man(cini): Entering the game with 36 doubles and a 10-game hitting streak, Mancini doubled his first two times up last night and then added three singles to go 5-for-5 and raise his average from .286 to .293.

Mancini was in the on-deck circle in the O's ninth when Austin Hays made the third out. The only Oriole to ever record six hits in one game was Cal Ripken Jr., on June 13, 1999 in a 22-1 win at Atlanta. Ripken had a double, two homers and six RBIs. Mancini never got his shot for a sixth hit last night.

The Orioles have had four five-hit games this year:

* Aug. 14, Renato Núñez went 5-for-5 at Yankee Stadium.
* Aug. 25, Anthony Santander went 5-for-5 against Tampa Bay.
* Aug. 30, Hanser Alberto went 5-for-6 at Kansas City.
* Sept. 24, Mancini went 5-for-5 at Toronto.

"He's had a great year, but these last couple weeks, he's hitting the ball hard almost every at-bat," Hyde said of Mancini. "Hit four line drives again tonight. Just really swinging the bat great. We talked all year about the middle-of-the-field approach, to get the ball up in the air a little bit. But to be able to swing at strikes and get in hitter's counts is key for him, and last two weeks, he's been fantastic."

During an 11-game hitting streak, Mancini is batting .471 (24-for-51) with six doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs. In his last five games against Toronto since last Tuesday, he is 15-for-24 (.625) with five doubles, a homer and 10 RBIs.

The 2019 season marks the third in which the Orioles have had four games with a player getting five hits. In 1966, Luis Aparicio had three such games and Russ Snyder had one. In 1974, Tommy Davis had a pair of five-hit games while Rich Coggins and Mark Belanger had one each. Before this year, the last five-hit game by an Oriole was Matt Wieters on Aug. 14, 2016 against San Francisco. Mancini's five-hit game was the 51st instance of one in Baltimore Orioles history.

.@TreyMancini has hit safely in 11-straight games, batting .471 in that span! #Birdland pic.twitter.com/yOSvkjta0V

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 25, 2019