Dylan Bundy recovered from a shaky start to pitch Baltimore to a 4-3 win over Washington in the opening game of the Beltway Series Monday night.
Bundy (7-4, 3.33 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) gave up an RBI single to Daniel Murphy in the first, but was solid thereafter. He ended up going six innings, giving up two runs on three hits, striking out four and walking four to get the win.
The Orioles bullpen gave up a run on two hits in three innings of relief, with Zach Britton (38 saves, 0.53 ERA, 0.80 WHIP) getting the save with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.
A.J. Cole (0-1, 5.14 ERA, 1.00 WHIP), in his first career MLB start, took the loss, giving up four runs on five hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Cole was called up after the Nationals placed ace Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list related to a sore elbow. Strasburg told reporters Monday that he had wanted to pitch through the discomfort that he had been experiencing dating back to the All-Star break.
Strasburg had lost his last three starts, and had a 14.66 ERA in that span.
Cole took Strasburg’s place in the rotation. He was 8-8 with a 4.26 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 22 starts at Triple-A Syracuse in 2016.
Murphy (.347/.392/.610, 23 HR, 90 RBI) was 2-for-3 with the RBI single on the night for the Nats (73-51), who have an eight-game lead on Miami (65-59) in the NL East.
Anthony Rendon (16 HR) and Danny Espinosa (19 HR) each went deep for Washington.
Jonathan Schoop (20 HR) and Mark Trumbo (38 HR) homered for the O’s (68-56), who are two games back of Toronto and Boston (each 70-54) in the AL East.
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Chris Graham
