SAN FRANCISCO — The Orioles' string of quality starts ended Friday night against the San Francisco Giants, but that didn't take anything away from how well right-hander Dylan Bundy pitched in his sixth major league start.

Bundy's transition to the starting rotation has been surprisingly smooth, especially given an injury history that kept him off the mound for most of the previous three seasons, but the 23-year-old worked through the Giants lineup with precision in a 5-2 Orioles win in front of an announced sellout of 41,479 at AT&T Park.

Bundy didn't carry his best stuff against the Giants — he struck out just three, his fewest strikeouts since becoming a starter, and walked two — but he managed to be dominant.

He held San Francisco to one run on three hits over 52/3 innings, winning his third straight start. Over his past three outings, Bundy has allowed just three runs in 182/3 innings with a 1.45 ERA.

With the win, the Orioles (65-50) regained possession of first place in the American League East by a half-game after the Toronto Blue Jays' 5-3 loss to the Houston Astros earlier in the night.

The only run off Bundy (6-3) came on Denard Span's double in the third, which followed a leadoff single by Joe Panik.

Bundy prevented further damage that inning, escaping a two-on, one-out jam by inducing Brandon Belt to hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Bundy retired eight of the last nine batters he faced.

Bats come out at the Cove: The Orioles hit two homers — one each by sluggers Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis — a good sign for the recently struggling offense. Both homers came off Giants starter Matt Cain, who allowed 12 base runners (11 hits and one walk) over four innings.

Trumbo hit a tape-measure two-run homer — his 33rd homer of the season, which enabled him to retake sole possession of the major league lead — just in front of the left-field concourse, a blast that traveled an estimated 441 feet.

Over his past two games, Trumbo has driven in seven runs, including his first grand slam as an Oriole on Thursday.

Davis opened the fifth inning taking a 1-1 pitch from Cain the opposite way into the left-field stands, his 24th of the season. The homer was just his second in 25 games since the All-Star break, but Davis is 6-for-12 over his past three games.

Center fielder Adam Jones, who had two singles and an RBI, had his fifth multihit game over his past six games and is hitting .432 (16-for-37) eight games into the team's 10-game road trip.

Britton quiets Giants: Orioles manager Buck Showalter would have preferred not using closer Zach Britton in the ninth inning Friday, but he was quick to go to Britton after the Giants quickly scored a run off Brad Brach.

Brach allowed two singles to open the ninth — and threw a wild pitch in between to allow Angel Pagan to get to second and score on the second single — before he was pulled for Britton.

Britton threw 25 pitches the previous afternoon in Oakland, leaving the bases loaded in the ninth, but he retired all three batters he faced Friday.

He struck out Buster Posey, induced a groundout from Brandon Crawford and struck out Hunter Pence.

Mychal Givens and Donnie Hart, who was recalled from Double-A Bowie earlier in the day to help against the Giants' lefty-heavy lineup, combined to retire 13 straight batters in relief of Bundy before Brach entered in the ninth.

eencina@baltsun.com

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