Luinder Avila spins five frames to notch third win

The Orioles got to Avila a bit in the second inning, lacing four singles off the righty to drive in two runs and give the O’s an early 2-0 lead. Avila would make it through the third inning without any damage, but gave up a 450-foot homer to Blaze Alexander in the fourth inning, breaking a 2-2 tie after the Royals plated two runs of their own in the top of the frame. Avila would pitch a scoreless fifth inning before being pulled to begin the sixth. Despite an inflated 5.08 ERA at the All-Star Break, Avila has been solid as of late for the Royals, allowing three earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts.

Avila wasn’t effective, but the Royals were able to score five runs to keep him from picking up the loss. The right-hander has not shown much consistency since joining the Kansas City rotation, with a couple of solid efforts and some real clunkers. This was somewhere in the middle, but not what fantasy managers should be hoping for. Avila shouldn’t be in fantasy lineups for his scheduled start Sunday against the Phillies.

Avila struck out five and walked one against the highest-scoring lineup in baseball this season. The performance was even more surprising given that he didn’t make it out of the first inning in his last start, allowing a whopping eight earned against the Astros. Wednesday marked his fourth start of the year in his transition from the bullpen. His control makes him a risk-reward play against the Rays next time out.

It’d be almost impossible to script a worse start than Avila’s here. After 12 pitches, three runs were already home on a single and two home runs. After that, he retired the next two batters before a catastrophic five-batter sequence with three walks and two singles. He was mercifully pulled there and reliever Mason Black promptly allowed a grand slam to Yordan Alvarez, his second home run of the first inning. This was one of those starts to simply flush down the toilet and hope it can be moved on from. He’s scheduled to face the Nationals on the road next time out.

Avila was sharp through four hitless innings before loading the bases with none out in the fifth. He escaped with minimal damage after getting a sac fly and starting a double play on a comebacker from Ryan Kreidler. Apparently, that gave the Royals enough of a scare that they didn’t trust him to come back out for the sixth at 70 pitches. Avila has allowed one run over five innings in both of his starts to date, though that has included seven walks between the outings. He has a 28/19 K/BB overall in 31 1/3 innings this season. He’s doing enough to stick as a starter, but he’s not very interesting in fantasy leagues yet. He’ll likely face the Astros on Friday.

Avila managed to hold Cincinnati to just a solo homer from JJ Bleday over five frames in his first start as a full-fledged member of Kansas City’s rotation. He struck out five and also issued four walks. He was staked to an early four-run cushion and was able to cruise through five innings to notch his first win of the year. He’ll close out the week with a favorable road matchup against the Twins on Saturday.

Avila figures to take the ball against the Reds on Monday at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park. The 24-year-old righty has worked three innings in back-to-back relief outings and shouldn’t need to much time to stretch out to a traditional starter’s workload. He’s posted an underwhelming 5.06 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and 20/12 K/BB ratio across 21 1/3 innings this season. He’s not a recommended streaming option for fantasy managers.

Avila is back up to replace Eli Morgan in the bullpen, with Morgan optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. The 24-year-old scuffled to a 9.00 ERA in his brief stint with Kansas City, but he’ll get another chance to help the Royals’ relief corps.

Avila allowed just one run in three innings on Wednesday backing up Cole Ragans, but carries a 9.00 ERA on the year and will likely spend a lot of time on the Omaha/Kansas City shuffle this year.

Avila, making his first career start in place of Michael Wacha (illness), struck out his first batter before putting two runners on with a double and a walk. Garrett Mitchell then tagged him for two runs on a double before Avila escaped the inning. Mitchell would get to Avila once again in the third, taking him deep for a three-run blast. Avila returned for the fourth and put the first two runners on before his day was done at 73 pitches. The 24-year-old right-hander is likely slated to return to Triple-A Omaha, with Wacha returning for his next scheduled start.