Rays starting pitcher Drew Smyly lasted 4 2/3 innings during his season debut Friday against the Blue Jays. Smyly began the season on the disabled list due to a shoulder injury.
The left-hander allowed two runs on four hits and no walks, while striking out five. He threw 55 of 79 pitches for strikes.
''That's baseball,'' said Smyly, who was hampered by tendinitis in spring training. ''I had a pre-determined pitch count and it stinks that it landed with one out to go in the fifth.''
Smyly got off to a great start Friday, retiring the first 10 batters he faced before Devon Travis hit a one-out home run in the fourth inning. Smyly then allowed three straight singles. The last single in the sequence produced another run.
Smyly was then lifted in the fifth inning after retiring the first two batters.
''Extremely unfortunate that his pitch count kind of got to the difficult decision-making zone, and that's on me that we had to prioritize his health over his record at this point,'' manager Kevin Cash said. ''I apologize to him, but that's the plan we had in place and we wanted to stick to it.''
He is schedule to make his next start Wednesday at N.Y. Yankees.