Brandon Williamson gave up a run in the first, another in the second and two more in the third Tuesday night, and everything could have easily come undone for the 25-year-old left-hander and the rest of the Cincinnati Reds.
Instead, Williamson cruised through two more innings without a hit, turned over a 5-4 lead to the stingy Cincinnati bullpen, and watched a quartet of relievers allow a single hit the rest of the way in beating the Kansas City Royals.
Williamson (1-0) allowed four runs, three of them earned, on seven hits over just five innings. But he left with that lead, thanks to a five-run second inning in which the Reds batted through the lineup, and their bullpen survived some shaky moments to not only hand Williamson the victory but the Royals an eighth consecutive defeat.
Daniel Duarte, brought up from Triple-A Louisville, worked the sixth inning in his first appearance for the Reds after missing 143 games to injury a year ago. Ian Gibaut loaded the bases in the seventh before Lucas Sims escaped the jam with strikeouts of Nick Pratto and Salvador Perez. Sims also handled the eighth before Alexis Diaz took care of the ninth for his 16th save.
Jordan Lyles (0-11) allowed all five Cincinnati runs on six hits and three walks over six innings for Kansas City. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run homer and MJ Melendez and Matt Duffy also drove in runs, but the Royals couldn’t produce down the stretch.
The biggest reason Lyles is winless this season has been the long ball. The left-hander, who signed a two-year, $17 million deal in the offseason, had allowed at least one homer in 10 of his first 13 starts and two or more more in seven of them.
Lyles didn’t give one up Tuesday night. Instead, the Reds battered him with small ball.
Plenty of boos greeted Lyles as he walked off the mound with a 5-1 deficit.
The Royals got a run back in the second on Duffy’s double and closed within 5-4 on Witt’s two-run shot in the third. But their only other chance came in the eighth, when Gibaut loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter, and Sims shut them down.
UP NEXT
RHP Ben Lively (3-4, 4.21 ERA) faces the Royals for the first time in the finale of the three-game series. LHP Daniel Lynch (0-2, 4.41) gets the start for Kansas City as he seeks his first win since Aug. 1, 2022.