’TOPES FALL FLAT
Rehabbing pitcher allows 11 runs in loss
The Isotopes’ Cinco de Mayo celebration is wrecked by the River Cats.
My oh Mayo. At least, their uniforms looked sharp. But the Albuquerque Isotopes certainly weren’t in, well, sync.
On Thursday, the Isotopes and former major league pitcher Jordan Lyles were rocked 12-6 by Sacramento during their Cinco de Mayo celebration game. The River Cats were the only team to leave Isotopes Park in a festive mood after splitting the teams’ four-game series.
“He didn’t have much angle, and they had a lot of early contact — hard contact,” Isotopes manager Glenallen Hill said of Lyles, his starting pitcher. “… He’s here for a reason. He’s here to work out some things. It’s going to be a process, and it’s not always going to be rosy during the process.”
Lyles, who opened the season on the parent Colorado Rockies’ roster and who has pitched in six seasons in the majors, gave Sacramento a reason to toast the holiday early. In just 2⅔ innings, he allowed cinco earned runs.
But those five earned runs were a little misleading. He allowed twice as many hits (10) and more than twice as many runs (11) in that short span. An Albuquerque error in the third inning kept Lyles’ ERA from further damage.
“Today was a rough day,” Hill said.
Lyles entered the day with a 1-0 record and 1.69 ERA with the Isotopes. But he allowed two singles, a triple and a two-run homer — the latter to Jarrett Parker — in the first inning.
The Isotopes — adorned in Mexico’s national colors with red hats, white pants and jerseys with green sleeves and red insets — pulled within 3-1 heading to the top of the third. Then, the duds became the only thing worth looking at for the ’Topes school day matinee crowd.
Lyles gave up six more hits in the third, including a triple to Parker. The River Cats also scored two runs on an infield single. Lyles was finally pulled after an RBI single to Juan Ciriaco, giving way to reliever Shane Carle.
But with two on and two outs, the first batter Carle faced — Grant Green — left the Isotopes green with envy. He blasted a three-run homer to dead center for a 12-1 lead and the gang in green was left to play out the affair in front of the announced crowd of 9,349.
While the Isotopes never made a competitive game of it, they did make a long game of it. Albuquerque chipped away with runs in four more innings and finished with 14 hits in the nearly three-hour affair that started just past 11 a.m.
“These guys are hungry. These guys want to play,” Hill said. “One of our strengths is that we have a lot of energy. You could see the character of our team late. We scored some runs late. But I don’t care who you are, it’s hard to overcome a nine-run inning.”