After his previous start, Jordan Lyles made it clear that whenever he had the opportunity to spare the Orioles’ bullpen of an inning, he would happily claim it for himself.

Thus, having thrown 106 pitches through six innings Monday night at Yankee Stadium, Lyles took the mound for the seventh. He recorded two outs before the New York lineup turned over, and when Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde left the dugout for the mound, Lyles sent him back without a pitching change.

A flared Anthony Rizzo single on Lyles’ 117th pitch officially ended his night, but a day after the Orioles’ bullpen was asked to record all of Sunday’s 33 outs, Lyles went more than deep enough for Baltimore in a 6-4 victory to open their series with the Yankees, their fourth win in five games.

“He’s a dog,” said closer Jorge López, who finished off the victory with a scoreless ninth. “He cares a lot about us. We were, like, shocked. We never thought he was going to come back out. He’s a dog. He’s a big dog.”

It marked only the second time in Hyde’s managerial tenure that he tasked a starter with that many pitches. Sunday’s starter, Spenser Watkins, threw only 13 before exiting with a bruised right forearm, an injury that landed him on the injured list Monday amid a collection of roster moves as Baltimore tried to add fresh arms to its roster.

But Lyles worked to minimize the need. He allowed a home run to league leader Aaron Judge in the first inning and another in the fifth, with an unearned run in the second accounting for the only other offense against him. Judge’s latter blast, a two-run shot, tied the game at 4, but Ramón Urías put the Orioles (18-25) back ahead by sending a Gerrit Cole fastball over right field’s short porch in the top of the sixth.

Signed to a contract that will guarantee him $7 million — the largest deal the Orioles have given any free agent in the past four offseasons — Lyles was expected to provide stability to a Baltimore rotation that has generally lacked it in recent years. With John Means out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Lyles is the Orioles’ only starter who has spent a full year in a major league rotation.

“I’m here for a job,” Lyles said. “I’m here to do what I’m supposed to do. Let’s not get it … We know. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to help the team, these young guys not be overused.”

Lyles recorded the first two outs of the seventh quickly, bringing him 52 2/3 innings this year, a total ranking fourth in the majors and second in the American League. With Lyles at 113 pitches, Hyde visited the mound to check on the 31-year-old veteran.

“I said, ‘We’re good,’ or ‘What are we doing?’” Lyles said. “We got two quick outs, right? There wasn’t much conversation. He was like, ‘Hey, you good?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, for sure. I’m good. Here we go.’”

With Judge due up after Rizzo’s single, Hyde turned to Félix Bautista, one of six relievers who worked behind Watkins on Sunday. Bautista walked Judge before striking out Giancarlo Stanton, New York’s other hulking slugger, on a slider to strand both runners. He handled the eighth cleanly on eight pitches, and after a Robinson Chirinos sacrifice fly in the top of ninth, López had a scoreless bottom half despite walking the first batter he faced. After covering 11 innings, the bullpen smoothly handled 2 1/3 after Lyles’ work.

“I haven’t had a whole lot of veteran starting pitchers in the rotation in my years here,” Hyde said. “So a guy with track record, a guy that I believe in, a guy that’s going to be honest with me, I’m gonna have more trust obviously, and hopefully, we’ll keep building these guys to be that way.”

Before Urías’ homer, all of the Orioles’ offense came in the fourth, with consecutive doubles from Urías and Chirinos plating their first run. Austin Hays, who delivered a game-tying, pinch-hit single in Sunday’s ninth inning, smacked a go-ahead, two-run knock into center later in the inning, eventually scoring as Ryan Mountcastle beat out the back end of a double play. Hyde called his club’s offensive approach against Cole, who has received the largest contract for a pitcher in league history, “outstanding.”

“I thought we grinded out at-bats really well,” Hyde said. “Gerrit Cole has got great stuff. He’s an ace. He’s an ace for a reason. Being able to put some runs up on the board against him, proud of our hitters.”

New Sulser in town

When the Orioles claimed Beau Sulser on waivers from Pittsburgh earlier this month, he had a great source to learn about the organization: his brother, Cole.

Cole Sulser pitched for Baltimore the previous two seasons and was slotted in as the Orioles’ closer before being traded during spring training along with Tanner Scott to the Miami Marlins. Beau Sulser was one of three pitchers the Orioles added to their roster Monday after Sunday’s pseudo-bullpen game.

Hyde said before the game he didn’t know much about Beau, though he figured the Dartmouth product must have done well on his SAT. But Beau said there are a lot of similarities between him and Cole; in addition to attending the same college, both had Tommy John surgery while there, were drafted as fifth-year seniors and endured lengthy minor league careers before reaching the majors.

Beau taught Cole the split-changeup that made him such a weapon against left-handers for Baltimore. Cole taught Beau to “just stick with it.”

“It would have been really easy for a lot of people to walk away with a mechanical engineering degree from Dartmouth, getting a second [Tommy John surgery] in pro ball in Single-A, walk away and go make some real money,” said Beau, who majored in psychology. “Watching him grind through that to achieve his dream just made me want to do the same and keep going until they obviously tell me not to.”

Around the horn

  • In his third major league game, Adley Rutschman again hit fifth and served as the Orioles’ designated hitter, going 0-for-4. Hyde said before the game that Rutschman will likely catch the rest of the series.
  • In addition to placing Watkins on the IL and recalling Sulser, the Orioles recalled right-handed pitchers Logan Gillaspie and Marcos Diplán and optioned infielder-outfielder Tyler Nevin and right-hander Mike Baumann to Triple-A Norfolk.

ORIOLES@YANKEES

Tuesday, 7:05 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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