NEW YORK — After his previous start, Jordan Lyles made it clear that whenever he had the opportunity to spare the Orioles’ bullpen of an inning, he would happily claim it for himself.
Thus, having thrown 106 pitches through six innings Monday night at Yankee Stadium, Lyles took the mound for the seventh. He recorded two outs before the New York lineup turned over, and when Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde left the dugout for the mound, Lyles sent him back without a pitching change.
A flared Anthony Rizzo single on Lyles’ 117th pitch officially ended his night, but a day after the Orioles’ bullpen was asked to record all of Sunday’s 33 outs, Lyles went more than deep enough for Baltimore in a 6-4 victory to open their series with the Yankees.
It marked only the second time in Hyde’s managerial tenure that he tasked a starter with that many pitches. Sunday’s starter, Spenser Watkins, threw only 13 before exiting with a bruised right forearm, an injury that landed him on the injured list Monday amid a collection of roster moves as Baltimore tried to add fresh arms to its roster.
But Lyles worked to minimize the need. He allowed a home run to league leader Aaron Judge in the first inning and another in the fifth, with an unearned run in the second accounting for the only other offense against him. Judge’s latter blast, a two-run shot, tied the game at 4, but Ramón Urías put the Orioles (18-25) back ahead by sending a Gerrit Cole fastball over right field’s short porch in the top of the sixth.
With Judge due up after Rizzo’s single, Hyde turned to Félix Bautista, one of six relievers who worked behind Watkins on Sunday. Bautista walked Judge before striking out Giancarlo Stanton, New York’s other hulking slugger, on a slider to strand both runners. He handled the eighth cleanly on eight pitches, and after a Robinson Chirinos sacrifice fly in the top of ninth, Jorge López had a scoreless bottom half despite walking the first batter he faced.
Before Urías’ homer, all of the Orioles’ offense came in the fourth, with consecutive doubles from Urías and Chirinos plating their first run. Austin Hays, who delivered a game-tying, pinch-hit single in Sunday’s ninth inning, smacked a go-ahead, two-run knock into center later in the inning, eventually scoring as Ryan Mountcastle beat out the back end of a double play.
Around the horn
— In his third major league game, Adley Rutschman again hit fifth and served as the Orioles’ designated hitter, going 0-for-4. Hyde said before the game that Rutschman will likely catch the rest of the series.
— In addition to placing Watkins on the IL, the Orioles recalled right-handed pitchers Logan Gillaspie, Marcos Diplán and Beau Sulser, optioning Tyler Nevin and Mike Baumann to Triple-A Norfolk.
