Rays hit Jordan Lyles hard in veteran’s Orioles debut, take season-opening series with 5-3 victory

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde sees the value of right-hander Jordan Lyles as a veteran presence and innings-eater. Although he brought both of those traits to the Tropicana Field mound Saturday for his Orioles debut, Lyles also carried the same run-prevention issues he’s had throughout his career.

The Tampa Bay Rays hit Lyles hard and often in a 5-3 victory as Baltimore dropped its first series of the season. The Orioles, 0-2 for the first time since 2010, have lost 14 straight games to the reigning American League East champions and will try to avoid a sweep Sunday.

One of only 20 pitchers to throw 180 innings in 2021, Lyles, 31, is the highest paid and most experienced member of Baltimore’s pitching staff, with a deal guaranteeing him $7 million being the largest free-agent contract Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has given out in four offseasons at the organization’s helm.

But that collection of innings last year for the Texas Rangers were not always quality ones. Lyles led the majors in home runs allowed and posted a 5.15 ERA, leaving his career mark at 5.21 across 11 campaigns. Entering Saturday’s start, the Rays were one of two teams against whom Lyles had a sub-3.00 ERA, but they tagged him for five runs in five innings.

“A bunch of lefties in their lineup, I couldn’t place the breaking balls in the zone early,” Lyles said. “Just felt like I didn’t really make them respect the breaking balls in the zone, so all they were doing was just sitting, waiting for my heater. Had to be perfect with it, and most times, I wasn’t.”

With Francisco Mejía taking him deep in the third, the outing marked Lyles’ major league-leading 13th since 2019 in which he lasted five or fewer innings, gave up five or more earned runs and allowed at least one home run. The two-run shot was one of 10 balls put in play against Lyles at 101 mph or harder, tied with Ubaldo Jiménez for the most allowed by an Orioles starter since Statcast was introduced in 2015.

Two came in a quick first in which Lyles needed only 10 pitches, but a 34-pitch second in which the Rays scored three times followed. The inning would have gone worse if not for strong defensive plays from first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and right fielder Austin Hays.

In the top of the third, Mountcastle provided the Orioles’ first hit of the year with a runner in scoring position, homering the other way after Jorge Mateo walked and stole second, but Mejía’s homer in the bottom half pushed the deficit back to three.

Lyles said Hyde wanted to end his outing after the fourth inning and 73 pitches — coming off a shortened spring training, teams are being cautious in how much they push their starters — but Lyles convinced him to go back out for another frame. After a 10-pitch fifth, he tried to fight for a sixth but gave way to Keegan Akin, who missed bats routinely in three scoreless innings.

Lyles had 25 five-inning outings in 2021, nearly a third as many as all Orioles combined.

“Later on in the season, I’m gonna dig out couple more innings here and there,” Lyles said. “That’s kind of what I like to do, especially with the young staff around me, bullpen wise, starting rotation wise. I want to keep the bullpen as fresh as possible and look forward to doing that later in the year.”

Mateo doubled in a run in the ninth, but pinch-hitter DJ Stewart struck out to end the game, leaving the Orioles with 24 strikeouts through two games to tie the 2018 club for the most in franchise history. They are 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

“Hopefully we can get some guys going a little bit,” Hyde said. “We have some guys off to a little bit slow start. That’s not abnormal, but it’s a long year and hopefully we can get them going.”

Akin the most of it

An option to piggyback with first-time starter Tyler Wells on Sunday, Akin instead needed only 31 pitches for three shutout innings behind Lyles, throwing only four balls and inducing 10 swings-and-misses. With those coming on 21 swings, Akin produced the highest whiff rate of his career for any outing in which he faced more than three batters.

After posting a 6.63 ERA while leading Orioles rookies in innings in 2021, Akin spent the early portion of spring training still dealing with discomfort stemming from undergoing an abdominal surgery near the end of the 2021 season, with its effects lingering into his outings. He said before Saturday’s appearance that he was “over that hump,” then showed it with a performance he said “absolutely” was the best he’s felt as a major leaguer.

“That’s the best stuff I’ve seen him have since he’s been here,” Hyde said.

The Orioles need a starter for Tuesday’s game, and Hyde said Akin efficiently working three innings Saturday won’t keep him from being a candidate for that. But Akin seemed to have an appreciation for working in relief.

“I liked it, actually, to be honest with you,” Akin said. “I liked it a lot, so could get used to it.”

Around the horn

>> Like Lyles, former Rangers teammate Rougned Odor made his first start as Oriole, playing second base and going 0-for-4 batting seventh.

>> Asked before the game about the Orioles re-signing right-hander Matt Harvey to a minor league deal after Harvey admitted to drug use during testimony in the Tyler Skaggs/Eric Kay trial, Hyde said the veteran was an “ultra pro” for the club in 2021. “Players loved him,” he said. “Four days he wasn’t starting, he was in the dugout for nine innings. He’s incredibly supportive. I’m happy to have him back. He was a pro last year for us. That’s what I’m going off of.”

ORIOLES@RAYS

Sunday, 1:10 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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