PHOENIX _ In a season when even the best-laid plans for Orioles manager Brandon Hyde are liable to let him down, the lineup card for Tuesday's 7-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks might go right on the office wall as reminder that even with this team, things can work out nicely.
Faced with leaving hot-hitting slugger Renato Nunez on the bench in favor of defense or giving him his first start of the season at third base, Hyde played him at third and batted him fifth. Nunez rewarded the move with a solo home run to open the second inning.
Without any other options on the roster, Hyde stuck Anthony Santander in center field yet again, and Santander's two-run home run proved to be the difference.
And even though Dwight Smith Jr. slumped through all of June and most of July, he was in there against right-hander Merrill Kelly and homered for the first time since June 4 as part of a two-hit night. His three-run home run in the third inning made it 7-2 and allowed the Orioles (32-68) to coast Tuesday at Chase Field.
Nunez, Santander and Smith combined for six of the Orioles' nine hits in the 4-5-6 spots in the lineup, and provided more than enough offense for a returning Dylan Bundy.
Fresh off the injured list after knee tendinitis, Bundy had a pair of long innings early and allowed two runs on a single to Kelly in the second inning. He rebounded to get through six innings on 94 pitches and improve to 5-11, lowering his ERA to 5.14 with one start remaining before the July 31 trade deadline.
Left-hander Richard Bleier took over with a scoreless seventh, and right-hander Shawn Armstrong struck out two in recording the final six outs.
