For the fourth straight season, Lance Lynn achieved 150 strikeouts–tying Bob Gibson and Adam Wainwright as the only pitchers in St. Louis Cardinals franchise history to do so. But that milestone was not a topic as the right-hander suffered his second shortest outing of the season, lasting just 2.1 innings and allowing six earned runs in the Cardinals 9-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
“I just didn’t have any command,” said Lynn. “The ball was over the place. Early on, I was in the middle of the zone and when I started making pitches they were already locked in and couldn’t do anything about it. I gotta be better early on.”
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Due in part to a sprained ankle he suffered in his last start on August 29th, Lynn was pitching on nine days rest.
“My ankle was fine to make the last one,” stated Lynn. “It didn’t help. When you’re in a rhythm and you’re a creature of habit, the extra time is never wanted. But it’s just part of it. But you’ve got to go out there and pitch when your name’s called or when they tell you that you’re going to pitch again and today I didn’t get the job done.”
Due to the extra rest, Lynn threw a bullpen as if he was going to pitch on Friday and then actually threw a bullpen on Friday to prepare for today’s start. Combined with the abbreviated outing today,
“I hope so–now I’ll be throwing two innings in the last 12 days or something like that,” said Lynn of the ease of falling back into a successful rhythm. “I need to get myself going here and get back on the track I was on before this start.”
Lynn had previously been 9-2 (2.71 ERA) when receiving six or more days of rest between starts.
NO MEETING
–Over the last four games of the home stand, the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates have combined to outscore the Cardinals 26-8.
“I didn’t because I don’t want to make a big deal of it,” answered Mike Matheny if the matter was addressed with the team afterwards. “There’s always conversations going around amongst the guys, but as far as my perspective is if I would’ve saw sloppy play, if I would’ve saw lack of hustle, if I’d have saw lack of execution as far as mental preparation and then physically–if it looked like something was off on those regards, we’d have a talk. But that’s not the case. We got roughed up…early on and it was too much to bounce back from.”
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
