The Baltimore Orioles have finally untethered a pitcher who ranked among the most highly regarded prospects in baseball. And the results have been highly impressive.

Dylan Bundy, armed with the slider the team hadn't previously allowed him to throw (despite his having great success with it at the scholastic level), dominated the Blue Jays for seven innings, giving up one run and striking out eight in Wednesday's 3-1 win.

Bundy used it well. He threw it 16 times and got 13 strikes. The pitch netted three outs, all strikeouts, and yielded no baserunners.

Bundy came to the mound with confidence and it showed. He had a 76 percent first-pitch strike rate, his second-best in 15 career starts. Both his miss rate (34 percent) and his called-strike rate (39 percent) were the third highest of his career.

Bundy also attacked the bottom of the strike zone and below the knees. Nearly two-thirds of his pitches were thrown to that area, resulting in seven of his eight strikeouts. Blue Jays hitters were 2-for-15 against pitches thrown to that location.

Defining at-bats

Bundy dominated Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against him. Bautista took six swings at Bundy pitches and missed on five of them. He struck out once against Bundy's slider and once against the changeup.

The biggest moment in the game might have come a batter before Bautista, when Bundy struck out Josh Donaldson with runners on first and third with one out in the third inning, trailing 1-0. Donaldson went down on three pitches, the last a fastball on the inside corner just above the knees. Bautista then lined out to end the inning.