ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Dylan Bundy's first major league start was met with extraordinary anticipation.
Beginning in spring training, many wondered when Bundy would get a chance to start.
He opened the season in the bullpen because he hadn't pitched much over the past three years due to various injuries, and as Bundy grew into his relief role, all while remaining on a starter's schedule, Orioles manager Buck Showalter found himself fielding the ever-present question more often from his own players.
"Every time he'd come in and pitch two or three innings, I'd always _ not get that look _ but everybody knows," Showalter said. "... They'll say, 'What do you think about Dylan?' ... I know what they're thinking and I think there was a lot of temptation in May, in June, and know we've got 70-some games left. This is what we hoped in spring training we'd get to this year."
Bundy's bullpen work was enough to prove he deserved the opportunity, especially considering the Orioles' need to upgrade a beleaguered starting rotation. But Bundy's first major league start on Sunday against the struggling Tampa Bay Rays wasn't successful, as the Orioles lost 5-2 at Tropicana Field in front of an announced 16,161.
On Sunday, the 23-year-old former first-round pick allowed three home runs over 3 1/3 innings _ as many homers as he allowed in 38 relief innings this season _ and exited the game after reaching his pitch limit of 70.
A Rays team that had scored just five runs over their previous four games, jumped on the rookie quickly.
One of Bundy's biggest improvements this season has been utilizing his changeup to keep the ball on the ground _ and in the ballpark _ but he induced just one ground-ball out on the afternoon.
Bundy threw 12 of 18 first-pitch strikes, but the Rays obviously did their homework on Bundy, hitting all three homers on mid-90s fastball, including two that came on two-strike counts.
With the Orioles (53-37) leading 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria turned on a 97-mph fastball on a 1-0 count, sending it an estimated 419 feet into the left-field stands for his 31st career homer against the Orioles.
Bundy was one strike away from getting out of the second inning unscathed before Oswaldo Arcia drilled a full-count 95-mph fastball on the outside corner to give the Rays a 3-1 lead. Brad Miller then led off the third inning hitting a 0-2, 95-mph outside fastball the opposite way for a solo homer to left field.
Bundy reached his season-high of 57 pitches after three innings, and left the game after issuing back-to-back one-out walks to Arcia and No. 9 hitter Curt Casali.
The Orioles' only other run came on Pedro Alvarez's solo homer in the sixth, his second homer of the three-game series.
Longoria hit his second homer of the day _ a solo shot off Odrisamer Despaigne in the eighth _ to give him his 17th career multi-homer game.
