This should return True and not raise an exception:

>>> from distutils.version import LooseVersion
>>> LooseVersion("22.7-r1") < LooseVersion("22.7.3-r1")
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/distutils/version.py", line 52, in __lt__
    c = self._cmp(other)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/distutils/version.py", line 337, in _cmp
    if self.version < other.version:
TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'
>>>

Tested with Python 3.6.1.