Lyons pitches well in loss
Salt Lake extends ’Birds’ skid to 4 games
The Redbirds extended their losing streak to four games with Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to Salt Lake City.
Once again, the loss overshadowed another strong pitching performance from starting left-hander Tyler Lyons. Since joining the Redbirds in mid-June, the 24-year-old gets better with each outing. Unfortunately, he continues to be the victim of low run support. And because of that, his record now stands at 2-8 with a respectable 4.38 ERA.
“He pitched well enough to win,” Redbirds manager Ron “Pop” Warner said. “He made a mistake with the walk, and then he got behind in the count to a count you don’t want to get into and the guy hit a ball off the wall and got him out of there. It didn’t work out for us tonight.”
Lyons pitched 6¥ innings in which he gave up two runs on just three hits. Lyons had four strikeouts and issued one walk.
His performance comes on the heels of pitching a five-hitter against Tacoma where he allowed just one run and had seven strikeouts in winning for just the second time since joining the Redbirds.
“I’m just starting to get comfortable,” Lyons said. “As the season’s progressed, I’ve kind of figured out what I have to do to get people out. I’m learning a little more each week. It’s just one of those things where I feel good out there and I’m just trying to execute pitches.”
Among the things Lyons has learned is how to use his pitches to set up hitters, a necessity when facing the type of veteran hitters found in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
“It’s a lot different than when I was at Double A (Springfield),” Lyons said. “Just learning how to pitch is what I’m learning more than anything.”
Lyons and Salt Lake starter Greg Smith (8-8) were locked in a scoreless battle through six innings. During that span, Lyons had allowed just two baserunners, a single by Andrew Romine in the first inning and a walk to Kole Calhoun in the fifth.
But Hank Conger greeted Lyons with a leadoff single to start the seventh. One out later, Calhoun doubled off the right-center-field wall. With runners on second and third, Lyons was replaced by reliever Nick Greenwood.
Greenwood promptly gave up a two-run single that bounced over the head of drawn in shortstop Pete Kozma. With two outs, Greenwood then gave up a two-run homer to Matt Long. The Bees added an unearned run in the eighth.
“That doesn’t bother me any,” Lyons said of the Redbirds failing to score when he was in the game.