Time for change? Lance Lynn impressive in Yankees debut after Sonny Gray bombed

Sonny Gray’s brutal outing keyed Yankees’ 7-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK — Two days after being traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Yankees, big and husky righty Lance Lynn flew into New York on Wednesday morning and arrived at Yankee Stadium just before 11 a.m. for a 1:05 p.m. matinee against the Baltimore Orioles.

After a quick trip to the manager’s office for a briefing and then a lot of warm welcomes from his new teammates, Lynn headed out to the bullpen behind the left-field fence to begin his new role as a long reliever.

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This switch from starter to reliever might not last long.

You’d think Yankees manager Aaron Boone and pitching coach Larry Rothschild will seriously consider sticking Lynn in the rotation very soon as a replacement for Sonny Gray, who was awful again Wednesday in an ugly 7-5 Yankees loss to a brutal Orioles ballclub that is 42 games under .500.

At this point, what do the Yankees have to lose dumping Gray for Lynn, who was a standout starter for years with the St. Louis Cardinals?

By the third inning Wednesday, Lynn was rushed in for his Yankees debut mid-inning due to Gray’s long-time-coming hot streak ending with more massive struggles in a 2 2/3-inning, seven-run stinker that has his ERA up to 5.56.

After Gray was booed off the field, Lynn’s opening act in pinstripes was impressive, as he worked 4 1/3 shutout innings in his first relief outing since September 2012.

Lynn allowed five hits, struck out five and walked none in a 71-pitch outing.

But thanks to Gray, the Yankees wasted two homers by rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres, the second of which was a three-run shot with two outs in the ninth inning.

More importantly, the Yankees lost a half-game on the idle first-place Red Sox, falling 5 1/2 back in the AL East heading into a crucial four-game series at Fenway Park that begins Thursday night.

Two weeks ago, the Yankees configured their rotation coming out of the All-Star break so that Gray would haven’t to face the Red Sox, a club that he’s been poor against since being traded by Oakland to the Yankees a year ago this week on July 31, 2017.

Gray, however, went into his Wednesday start 3-0 with a 1.10 ERA over his previous three outings. The Yankees, who have been very supportive of Gray during his many struggles, were hoping this surge would turn into a solid second half.

Instead, the Yankees have a decision to make on Gray, who now has failed to get through four innings in six of his 21 starts.

Against the Orioles, Gray worked a 1-2-3 first on 13 pitches, but gave up five runs in the second and two more in the third in a 57-pitch outing in which he retired just seven of the 17 batters that he faced.

Lynn hasn’t had a great year, either, as he was 7-8 with a 5.10 ERA in 20 starts in his first season with the Twins, but he pitched to a 3.74 ERA in 12 starts since late May.

Also, the 6-foot-5, 280-pounder has some very good campaigns on his big-league resume as a Cardinal. He was 18-7 with a 3.78 ERA in 2012, 15-10 with a 3.97 ERA in 2013, 15-10 with a 2.74 in 2014 plus 11-8 with a 3.43 in 2017, his first year back from Tommy John surgery.

NOTABLE

— Right-hander Cody Carroll, who was in Triple-A when traded by the Yankees to the Orioles in last week’s Zach Britton deal, pitched a scoreless seventh inning in his major league debut.

— Orioles righty Alex Cobb held the Yankees to one run on seven hits over six innings after entering the day 2-14 with a 6.08 ERA in 20 starts.

— The Orioles are 6-6 against the Yankees and 27-69 against everyone else.

— Shortstop Didi Gregorius had three of the Yankees’ 11 hits.

— There was a 39-minute rain delay after the Orioles were retired in the third inning.

LOOKING AHEAD

Thursday: Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 p.m., YES. LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.53) vs. LHP Brian Johnson (1-3, 3.45).

Friday: Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 p.m., WPIX. RHP Luis Severino (14-4, 2.94) vs. RHP Rick Porcello (13-4, 4.03).

Saturday: Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 4:05 p.m., FSI/YES. LHP J.A. Happ (11-6, 4.05) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-4, 3.80).

Sunday: Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 8:05 p.m., ESPN. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (9-2, 3.84) vs. (11-6, 3.97).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.