Colorado Rockies: New and improved Jordan Lyles dominates in 4-0 loss

SAN DIEGO, CA - MAY 15: Jordan Lyles #27 of the San Diego Padres pitches to Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on May 15, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - MAY 15: Jordan Lyles #27 of the San Diego Padres pitches to Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on May 15, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

Trevor Story hit a single to left field to break up Jordan Lyles‘ perfect game with one out in the eighth as the San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on Tuesday afternoon.

Lyles walked the next batter in the eighth before being taken out. He finished the game with 10 strikeouts. However, his extremely efficient pitching is what was most impressive. He finished with 85 pitches with 9, 12, 10, 6, 18, 7, 10 and 13 pitches in each inning respectively.

This isn’t the typical Jordan Lyles that the Rockies are used to seeing.

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Lyles spent about four years with the Rockies between 2014-17. He moved between the starting rotation and the bullpen during his time there. The Lyles who wore a purple jersey had an ERA of 5.22 and wasn’t known for strikeouts.

This year with the Padres, Lyles has a 2.53 ERA. His strikeouts per nine innings are higher than they have been in his entire career. He has eight strikeouts per nine innings this year, whereas he averaged 5.9 with the Rockies. To say the least, this is the last thing the Rockies were expecting from Lyles.

Lyles’ counterpart didn’t fare as well. German Marquez struggled early. He went five innings with five strikeouts, six hits and two earned runs. In the first, he gave up a leadoff single to Travis Jankowski. The next pitch was fastball that Eric Hosmer took deep which put the Padres up 2-0.

Marquez continued to get in trouble but always seemed to get out of it. Chris Rusin came into relieve in the sixth inning. He gave up a single and then, with two outs, Christian Villanueva took a low sinker into deep left field to push the lead to four.

Even if the Rockies limited the Padres offense, the Rockies wouldn’t have been able to produce anything given the dominance of Lyles.

Other Notes

Nolan Arenado came into Tuesday with a 24-game on-base streak. However, that came to an end as he went 0-4.

Charlie Blackmon was left out of the lineup for rest. He did come in to pinch hit in the eighth and drew a walk. David Dahl started in center field.

DJ LeMahieu is on the 10-day DL with a thumb injury he sustained on Sunday. Daniel Castro has started at second base for him during the two-game set in San Diego.

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Next Up

The Rockies are off Wednesday and then will fly to San Francisco for a four-game stint against the Giants. Chad Bettis (4-1, 3.12) will face Jeff Samardzija (1-2, 6.94) in the opener on Thursday.