Few bad pitches, but a bad loss for Astros' Lyles
Houston Astros starter Jordan Lyles had little explanation for how it all went wrong. How he went from two great starts (3 runs in 13 1/3 innings) to the debacle of Monday night when he gave up seven runs on nine hits in four innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
For that matter, it changed within the 11-2 loss at PNC Park, as Lyles didn't surrender a hit the first time through the order and then gave up nine hits in the Pirates' last 12 at-bats against him.
"Nothing I can put my finger on," Lyles said. "I thought they were decent pitches."
He did admit a couple of mistakes as the Astros gave up four in the fourth inning and four in the fifth. Perhaps the biggest takeaway might have been that there was nothing obviously wrong.
"This is just a bump," manager Brad Mills said. "He's throwing the ball so well, there's no reason to go any farther than that and say he's going backwards at all. He threw the ball so well the first three innings, and there's no reason to think that he's not going to come out and throw the ball that way for seven, eight, nine innings next time out."
The Astros have come to rely on Lyles as a regular in the rotation since jerking him back and forth between Class AAA Oklahoma City and the majors. After one of his worst starts as a big leaguer, he's determined to get his form back for one more before the All-Star break.
"It's never easy after I give up however many runs I gave up tonight," Lyles said on a night when it was easy to lose count. "But in a couple of days I'm not going to let it affect me."
