Lyles gets victory, Mountcastle and Hays homer in win (updated)

TORONTO – He may not have put up stats as he did earlier in the year, but right-hander Jordan Lyles got his team off to a good pitching start tonight. And then his offense scored in four straight at-bats to back him. Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays homered as the Orioles beat Toronto 6-5 to even this four-game series at a victory for each club.

The Orioles (27-36) improved to 3-3 on this road trip and to 6-5 in their last 11 road games. They are 12-17 on the year versus American League East clubs, but are 8-6 in their past 14 division games.

Lyles allowed four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He has an ERA of 5.08 in eight starts within the division this season.

Jorge López got the last five outs and did some big-time heavy lifting again. It was his fourth save of the year of more than one inning. He got Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández in order in the last of the ninth. 

The Orioles broke the early scoreless tie when Mountcastle went opposite field with his 10^th homer of the year in the Baltimore third. That provided a 2-0 lead, scoring Richie Martin, who had walked. Mountcastle hit a 1-0 fastball 396 feet with an exit velocity of 106. And Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who had given up seven runs over 5 1/3 his past two starts, was behind in the third tonight.

Mountcastle has produced 10 extra-base hits, with five doubles and five homers, among his last 14 hits. And that was Mountcastle’s 10^th career homer in 102 career at-bats versus Toronto pitching.

Meanwhile, Lyles, who had struggled recently, got off to a fast start. He retired the first six Blue Jays in order on just 21 pitches. But then he got into and out of a big jam in the third as Toronto scored just one run.

Two singles and walk around an out loaded the bases, and when shortstop Bichette hit a slow roller to third base, Tyler Nevin’s only play was at first base as a run scored and three runners advanced. Lyles then hit Guerrero on the back of the left hand, but fortunately, he was able to stay in the game after a long visit from the Blue Jays trainer. That re-loaded the bases for right fielder Hernández, and he drilled a 1-1 slider deep to left but foul. Then Lyles struck him out two pitches later when he buried a 92 mph fastball to get a huge out and maintain the 2-1 lead.

The advantage grew to 3-1 when Robinson Chirinos hit a bloop that stayed fair down the left-field line for a double in the fourth. That scored Ryan McKenna from first when left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., playing well off the line, could not get there on a two-bagger that had a .010 expected batting average. It stayed in the air a long time, but the Blue Jays could not turn it into an out as Chirinos picked up his 11^th RBI of the season.

The Orioles' early two-run advantage lasted just minutes. The Blue Jays scored on Lyles for the second straight inning and forged a 3-3 tie on Matt Chapman’s two-run homer in the fourth. He got a low slider on 0-2 and yanked it into the left-field corner for his eighth home run.

The tie would not hold long either, though, as the scoring spree in this game that started in the Baltimore third carried into the O’s fifth. They scored twice for a 5-3 lead.

Hays led off with a solo blast to center off Kikuchi. He hit an 0-1 changeup for No. 8 and a one-run lead. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo replaced Kikuchi with right-hander Trevor Richards, who was greeted by Mountcastle’s third hit and third extra-base hit of this game, a double to right. Two batters later, he scored on Tyler Nevin’s sac fly for the 5-3 advantage.

Kikuchi allowed five hits and four runs, including two homers, over four-plus innings, throwing 68 pitches.

Each team scored a run in the sixth, with Baltimore getting Cedric Mullins’ RBI single scoring Jorge Mateo, who stole two bases that inning, for the 6-3 lead. That became 6-4 on Gabriel Moreno’s RBI single in the home sixth. Toronto closed to within 6-5 on Moreno's RBI single in the eighth. 

The Orioles offense has scored 38 runs the last seven games and 131 in the last 25. They are 13-12 the past 25 games and tonight ended a seven-game losing streak against Toronto, posting their first win over this team since Sept. 10, 2021 at Oriole Park.

Manager Brandon Hyde on the five-out save: “Big time, five big outs. Went through the top of the lineup, which is so good. He didn’t give up any poor contact. Came in there and got a couple of weak ground balls and did a great job in the ninth, starting with the play that Mateo made, which potentially was game-changing. Just an unbelievable barehand play with a fast runner. We played really good defense tonight.”

Hyde on Lyles: “I thought Jordan pitched great. This is a really tough lineup. He hung that one to Chapman, that is two runs there. So you take that one away. He pitched outstanding. Worked both sides of the plate, thought he had a really good two-seamer tonight. He could expand with the slider and the breaking ball off that and kept them off balance, for the most part.”

Mountcastle on the win after last night: “That was great. I think last night, it was one of those things. But we bounced back and played really well.”

Mountcastle on Mateo’s strong play on defense in the ninth: "Mateo has been doing it all year. He's an amazing fielder and I don't know if he gets the credit he deserves. That play set the tone for the ninth."

Lyles felt he made progress tonight: “Definitely, I thought Robbie and I, we did a really good job tonight. Definitely the best we’ve thrown in the last couple of outings. Tonight, results, numbers-wise weren’t great. But we threw a little bit better than that. The offense afforded us to be comfortable out there all night. We kept putting on runs and being the team on top most of the game.”