The Orioles have made no secret of the fact they’ve been stretching out Bundy to segue him back into a starting role, but many fans didn’t expect Bundy to join the rotation until September or even next season. He missed a second homer by inches in the fifth, settling for an RBI double when his ball hit off the railing atop the left-field fence. Instead, he wanted him to pitch against the first two right-handers in the Orioles lineup.
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Yovani Gallardo labored in the Baltimore Orioles’ first game coming out of the all-star break Friday night at Tropicana Field, performing a high-wire act against the Tampa Bay Rays of which better teams would have taken better advantage.
“Everything worked out as planned during the All-Star break, to have the baby and to be playing in Tampa”, Givens said.
Archer (4-13), who leads the majors in losses, gave up four runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings as Tampa Bay lost for the 23rd time in 26 games.
Splits: Left-handed hitters finished 2-for-8 with a walk, a double, a home run and two strikeouts against Archer, while same-sided hitters finished 5-for-21 with a home run, a double and four strikeouts.
The Rays had a chance in the ninth inning after Brad Miller doubled and went to third on a wild pitch. An intentional walk to Evan Longoria put the winning run on base, but Britton struck out Logan Morrison and Steven Souza to end the game. Gallardo needed 58 pitches for the first two innings and allowed eight of the first 12 batters to reach base but came out of that down just 2-0.
“We’re not going to have a rested bullpen the way we did tonight for the next 74 games”, he said.
Rays: CF Kevin Kiermaier (broken left hand) was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list after missing nearly two months. The left-hander allowed four runs (two earned) in six innings of work that day while walking three batters and striking out four. RHPs Ryan Garton and Tyler Sturdevant were optioned to Durham. He’s made 22 appearances, posting a 2-1 record with a 3.08 ERA.
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Moore struggled against the Orioles back on June 24, giving up five runs in just 6.2 innings in that losing effort.
