Lyles allows five runs as O's fall in Game 2

Right-hander Jordan Lyles’ first chance to eat innings for the Orioles resulted in a mixed bag. He did some innings-eating today, but also allowed runs in the second and third as the O’s fell behind early this afternoon and lost 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
 
The Orioles (0-2), who went 1-18 versus the Rays last season, have now lost 14 in a row versus Tampa Bay since a win last July 19.
 
Lyles, who went 10-13 with a 5.15 ERA last year for the Texas Rangers while throwing a career-high 180 innings, took the loss in his Orioles debut.
 
He went five innings on 83 pitches, allowing seven hits and five runs with three walks and two strikeouts. He threw 52 strikes using five different pitches, and his fastball sat in the 92-93 mph range.
 
Lyles recorded 13 quality starts, also a career high, last season when he ended the year going 3-2 with a 2.87 ERA his last five starts. He went six innings or more 18 times in 2021 and was one of just six American League pitchers to do that.
 
And it began well for him today with a scoreless first that included a strikeout of Wander Franco on a breaking ball. Lyles threw just 10 pitches in the inning. But Josh Lowe’s leadoff triple in the second started the Rays on a three-run inning. In the third, catcher Francisco Mejía drilled a two-run homer to right. That gave him a three-RBI day, and he also drove in one of the Rays’ two runs in their opening day win. 
 
The Orioles had another day with not much offense and not much in the way of clutch hitting.
 
Ryan Mountcastle did hit his first homer of the year after hitting 33 last summer. He hit a two-run shot to right in the Baltimore third to bring the O’s within 3-2. He hit a first-pitch slider off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen that produced a 101.6 mph exit velocity to get the Orioles on the board.
 
The O's added a run in the ninth on doubles by Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo to pull within 5-3.
 
The Orioles had two on with one out in the top of the sixth, but Austin Hays bounced into a 1-6-3 double play to end that threat.
 
Baltimore used just two pitchers as lefty Keegan Akin had a strong relief stint replacing Lyles. Over three scoreless innings he gave up just one hit on 31 pitches.
 
The O’s will need to win Sunday afternoon to avoid being swept three in a row to start the year. Right-hander Tyler Wells (2-3, 4.11 ERA in 2021) will make his first big league start. He’ll be opposed by right-hander Corey Kluber (5-3, 3.83 ERA in 2021), a two-time American League Cy Young winner, in the series finale.