Lawrence allowed five earned runs on four hits and two walks over 1.2 innings in a 10-0 loss to the Royals on Monday. He also recorded a strikeout.
The bad version of Lawrence resurfaced Monday. The 30-year-old had been perfect over 2.2 innings in his one previous 2018 appearance after a spring in which he generated a 1.80 ERA over six appearances. Lawrence frequently turned in performances similar to Monday's during a washout 2017 with the Blue Jays and Mariners, finishing with a 6.34 ERA and 1.84 WHIP. The hope is the ragged outing versus the Royals proves to be nothing more than an outlier, as opposed to a regression to the mean.