Orioles at Tigers
Dylan Bundy will look to make his ninth quality start in as many trips to the mound when the Baltimore Orioles wrap up a three-game series at the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon. Wednesday's 5-4 defeat dropped the Orioles to 1-5 entering the final game of its road trip - and all five defeats have come by one run.
Bundy has yielded only 13 runs for the season, nine during his six-start unbeaten streak, and is the only Baltimore starter to pitch past the fifth inning in the past six games. Hot-hitting Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who has homered four times in the last four games, is 4-for-7 with two blasts against Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann, who will oppose Bundy on Thursday. Zimmermann has labored against Baltimore, posting a 2-4 record and 5.82 ERA in seven career starts. Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, scratched just prior to Wednesday's game, has an oblique strain and is expected to miss two to three days.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, MASN2 (Baltimore), FSN Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Dylan Bundy (5-1, 2.26 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Jordan Zimmermann (3-2, 6.28)
Bundy has been so consistent that he saw his ERA rise an eyelash after striking out a season high-tying eight and giving up two runs on four hits over six innings in a no-decision at Kansas City last Friday. Bundy is 4-0 over his last six starts and has permitted more than six hits once - in his lone loss at Boston on April 11. He has made just one appearance against the Tigers, a 1 1/3-inning relief stint.
Zimmermann is the polar opposite of Bundy as he has one quality start and that came in his season debut against Boston on April 8. The 30-year-old allowed at least four runs in five of his last six turns and has been touched for at least 10 hits in three of his last five outings. Zimmermann has surrendered eight homers over his last four starts and 12 in 38 2/3 career innings versus the Orioles.
WALK-OFFS
1. Orioles C Welington Castillo is 6-for-10 in his first two games since coming off the disabled list.
2. Tigers CF Tyler Collins, 0-for-28 in his previous eight games with an at-bat, went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and four RBIs in Wednesday's win.
3. Davis has seven RBIs and eight runs scored during a six-game hitting streak.