ARLINGTON — Part of the reason Jordan Lyles was dubbed a tandem starter at the outset of the season — and not a regular full-go starter — was because he tends to struggle with a slightly elevated pitch count and when he faces batters a third time.
Having already allowed six runs in two and two-thirds innings on Monday, Angels superstar Mike Trout was going to get a third crack in the third inning against Lyles. He’d already homered off him six days prior.
The first pitch — a 92 mile-per-hour fastball — was promptly slugged 112 miles per hour off the bat into left field for a double.
Lyles was hit extremely hard in the Rangers 9-4 loss to Los Angeles on Monday night at Globe Life Field. It was the Rangers’ fourth consecutive loss.
“It’s definitely a challenge when you face a team back-to-back like that. Especially when you [face] really, really good hitters, you’re either going to have to do something different or execute really well. And I think when there’s a mix of not doing both, you’re going to get hurt.”
He was taken out after that double from Trout. He allowed seven runs and recorded eight outs. On the other side, Angels pitcher-hitter Shohei Ohtani was equally bad in the first inning. He allowed four runs and threw 18-of-29 pitches for balls.
But Ohtani improved from his first inning. Lyles got more hittable. Ohtani struck out nine of his final 14 batters. Lyles allowed back-to-back home runs to Justin Upton and Albert Pujols to lead off the third.
“Clearly he’s vulnerable in the first inning,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said of Ohtani. “He’s shown that twice against us. But to watch him settle down and go right back ... he was just amazing. And then he’s doing some things with the bat. You just don’t see what he can do.”
The Rangers got the full Ohtani experience on Monday. In the first inning he allowed a three-run homer, walked two, hit one and threw a wild pitch. For a few minutes, it seemed like he might not escape the first.
Once he did, he was un-hittable. He also un-did some of his own damage by lacing a two-run double at the plate in the second inning. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
When the two teams played a week ago, Ohtani only pitched in his appearance. In this game, the Rangers got an unwelcome glimpse into one of the most fascinating baseball experiments in modern history.
Ohtani was everything the Angels could have wanted in a two-way player on Monday, and it came at the Rangers’ expense.
It didn’t hurt that Ohtani had Trout providing him protection in the lineup. The Rangers killer returned after missing three games to go 4-of-5.
The Rangers were bolstered by Lyles’ replacement. Hyeon-jong Yang made his MLB debut and ate up much-needed innings. He retired Anthony Rendon with two batters to start off his big league career.
Then he went another four innings, allowing just two runs with one strikeouts and no walks. Defensively, he snatched a line drive coming at him for the first out of the fourth inning.
Yang kept the Rangers in the game. But the damage from Lyles’ ineffective appearance was done. And there was nothing that could be done about Ohtani as he looked better and better with each passing inning.
When Nate Lowe clobbered his three-run homer in the first inning, seemed the questions about the Rangers confusing offensive woes at home might have been answered. But that was very temporary. There were only four hits after that, no runs.
Normally when the Rangers are undone by an Angels superstar, it’s Trout. That’s the case for everyone, really.
On Monday, though, it was Ohtani. His electric rise was evident that it hasn’t been yet in his young career.
