Lyles struggles early as Boston wins via blowout to even series

During a season where right-hander Jordan Lyles has made numerous good starts for the Orioles – his ERA was 2.72 in his previous seven starts – today was clearly not one. His opponent was the Boston Red Sox. But it seemed it was also the impact of missing his last start due to a stomach virus.

Scheduled to pitch during the doubleheader Monday against Toronto, Lyles warmed up for that Game 1 start but didn’t make it due to his illness. So, he was pitching on nine days’ rest today and rust showed right from the start. So did his lack of normal velocity, which was down right from the start.

After Lyles’ wildness helped Boston load the bases three batters into the game, cleanup hitter Rafael Devers unloaded them with a grand slam into the Boston bullpen. 

The fast start and the Devers' slam led Boston to a blowout win 17-4 over the Orioles, and the game ended with outfielder Ryan McKenna on the mound for Baltimore.

The Orioles fall to 73-66 and have lost five of their past seven games. The Sunday series finale will decide which team wins this series.

Devers' 26^th homer came on a 2-0 fastball at 89.9 mph and gave Boston the 4-0 lead. The 425-foot blast ended a 21-game homer-less run for Devers and was the fourth career slam allowed by Lyles.

Tommy Pham led off the Boston first and drew a nine-pitch walk and Alex Verdugo singled on the seventh pitch. On pitch seven of his plate appearance, Xander Bogaerts was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Lyles needed 37 pitches to get through the first inning. His four-seam fastball, per Statcast, averaged 89.1 mph that frame, which is 2.7 mph under his usual average.

Lyles settled in a bit and stranded two runners in the second before pitching a 1-2-3 third inning on just six pitches. But four of the first six batters he faced in the fourth reached to end his day. All four runners would score as lefty Keegan Akin replaced him and two inherited runners scored on him making Lyles’ final line even worse.

It showed he covered 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and a season-high eight runs. The eight earned runs was just one off his career high of nine allowed back on July 21, 2013. Lyles, who had allowed just one earned run over 13 2/3 combined in his previous two Orioles starts, falls to 10-10 and his ERA rose from 4.25 to 4.62. He walked one and fanned one, throwing 77 pitches and 47 of them for strikes.

His fastball velocity for his outing averaged 89.3 mph, up a bit from the first inning.

But the big four-run fourth opened an 8-1 Boston lead which grew to 10-1 when Christian Arroyo hit a two-run homer in the fifth off Akin.

The O’s had cut their early deficit to 4-1 on Cedric Mullins’ solo homer in the third off Boston starter Micheal Wacha. He hit an 0-1 curve 373 feet to right-center for his 14^th homer. The O’s added two in the fifth. Gunnar Henderson singled, advanced to third on a Ramón Urías' double and scored on Jorge Mateo’s sac fly. Mullins' bloop hit to left plated Urías.

The O’s starting staff, which was once rolling, is no longer. O’s pitchers have now gone eight consecutive games without a quality start. In that span, the rotation ERA is 7.36 over 29 1/3 innings.

Wacha got the win for Boston and is 11-1 with an ERA of 2.69. He gave up three runs and six hits over six innings on 82 pitches. The Red Sox are 14-5 in his 2022 starts.

Boston (68-72) snapped a four-game losing streak during which it had scored nine total runs. Boston is now 19-40 versus AL East clubs and 20-27 since the All-Star game.

O's righty Yennier Canó, acquired in the trade of Jorge Lopez to Minnesota, made his Baltimore debut in the eighth and allowed three hits and one run in one inning for an 11-3 lead. He also fanned three batters. 

But then he could not get through the ninth inning and after allowing two runs, he left with the bases loaded and McKenna came in to pitch. McKenna walked a man with the bases loaded and allowed a pair of RBI singles before mercifully getting a groundout to end the inning. Boston scored six runs in the ninth as the O's allowed season highs in runs and hits.  

Ryan Mountcastle's 78th RBI on a single in the eighth completed the O's scoring in the loss. 

The O’s are 4-5 on a 10-game homestand that ends Sunday when right-hander Kyle Bradish (3-5, 5.20 ERA) faces lefty Rich Hill (6-6, 4.79 ERA) at 1:05 p.m.

Postgame quotes

Manager Brandon Hyde, did Lyles feel well enough to pitch?: “I haven’t talked to him after he came out of the game. But going into the game he felt okay. Just didn’t look like he was very sharp and hasn’t been feeling well for a while. Little rusty in the first and the Devers grand slam, kind of a ball in the middle. Ran out of gas in the fourth."

Hyde on using McKenna in the ninth: "That's one of those, there were two outs, couple of swinging bunt singles. You are just trying, hoping, please have this inning end. It wasn't ending. Unfortunately had to bring in McKenna there."

Lyles was his stuff off due to his illness?: "I’m not sure. Maybe. When I’m out there, I don’t care what I’m throwing or how hard I’m throwing. I’m trying to get quick outs. Trying to get our defense back in the dugout and let them get comfortable. I hate them standing around for so long and having Adley back there squatting so long. It was a tick or two down. I’m sure I’ll be able to bounce back in a few days."

Lyles on the rough day: “Today I toed the runner, I didn’t have my best stuff. I wasn’t good. They got out to an early lead and that was the ball game. Unfortunately we had to use a lot of pitchers after me. But it only counts for one loss and we are going to try and get a series tomorrow. Tomorrow, if we win, we take the series and won’t think about all the runs we gave up tonight. It was a bad loss, but it only counts for one."