BALTIMORE _ Dylan Bundy's starts are back to being an occasion, and if nothing else matters in this lost Orioles season, there's plenty of solace to be taken in that.
With eight shutout innings in Monday night's 2-0, 12-inning loss to the Boston Red Sox before a light announced crowd of 15,934 at Camden Yards, Bundy made a second straight scoreless start and was made to sweat out the result yet again.
The latter part can be expected from a fallow Orioles offense missing its top star, Manny Machado. The Orioles stranded 12 on the night and lost after Mychal Givens loaded the bases and allowed a pair of sacrifice flies in the 12th.
But after a few uncharacteristic outings that spoiled his spectacular start to the season, Bundy is back to the form where his starts being appointment viewing is an expectation for him, too.
Sometimes, as it was when he had all four pitches working when he struck out 14 in a complete game in Chicago last month, it's the kind of marvelous outing that makes batters look silly. Others have been like Monday, when he's had the swing-and-miss stuff when he needs it but rides his fastball with finish and location to a comfortable day.
And considering Bundy, under team control for three more seasons after this one, will be around for whatever comes next for these Orioles (19-46) in transition, this kind of return from their 2011 top draft pick will always be a welcome one.
As he did in some of his early-career starts against Boston, Bundy challenged a lineup that feasts on fastballs with lots of them, throwing the pitch 64.1 percent of the time. He only threw it more often only in the May 8 start against the Kansas City Royals, when he went one inning and had nothing.
The opposite was true Monday. He needed little else to turn the Red Sox lineup over three times without much resistance. Andrew Benintendi harmlessly singled in the first and fourth innings, and became the first Red Sox player to reach second base when he walked and stole second base with two outs in the sixth.
There was nothing for the high-powered Red Sox offense to get excited about, save for the final out Bundy recorded, which was a towering warning-track fly ball to left field from Mookie Betts. Pitching opposite knuckleballer Steven Wright, who also carried a shutout bid into the eighth inning, Bundy ended up with more swinging strikes (11 to nine) and just as much weak contact.
Bundy has pitched 17 scoreless innings in a row, dating to his May 29 start against the Washington Nationals.
Monday has helped make this second standout run for Bundy this year nearly as good as the first. He had a 1.42 ERA with 11.87 strikeouts per nine and a 1.11 WHIP through five starts and had excelled in every way imaginable before allowing nine home runs and 19 earned runs in nine innings over his next three starts.
In the six starts since, Bundy has a 2.09 ERA, with 9.84 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.88 WHIP.
Bundy turned in his ninth quality start of the season, and the Orioles' 32nd. The Orioles have lost 18 of them as a team, tied for most in the majors.
