Rants Daily: Lance Lynn struggles in first loss of the season

In the Mother’s Day game, the pink bats were red hot for the Atlanta Braves as they handed Lance Lynn his first of the season. The Cardinals matched them hit for hit, but who prevailed? Find out after the jump.

Lance Lynn started the game by allowing a single to Michael Bourn and hitting Martin Prado. Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla struck out and Tony Cruz ended the inning by catching Bourn trying to steal third base. Tommy Hanson started his half of the frame with control issues as he walked both Rafael Furcal and Jon Jay. The runners advanced on a throwing error and a stolen base by Jon Jay. Hanson then struck out Carlos Beltran, Allen Craig, and Lance Berman to end the inning.

Lynn walked Jason Heyward to start the second inning but forced Juan Francisco to ground out. He then struck out David Ross and induced another grounder by Tyler Pastornicky to end the inning. Hanson answered back by striking out David Freese and Dan Descalso and forcing Tony Cruz to pop out.

Lynn ran into trouble in the third inning. He struck out Tommy Hanson and Michael Bourn, but began to labor afterwards. He gave up a single to Martin Prado, who advanced to second on a passed ball. Lynn walked two straight batters to load the bases and then gave up a bases clearing double to Jason Heyward. Juan Francisco ended the inning with a pop up, but the damage was done as the Braves took a 3-0 lead. Lynn struck out to start the bottom of the third. Rafael Furcal picked up a single, but the inning ended on a foul out by Jon Jay and a ground out by Carlos Beltran.

Lynn gave up a double to David Ross to start the fourth inning, but relied on his defense with three ground outs to get out of the inning unscathed. The Cards failed to get on the board in the bottom half as Craig, Berkman, and Freese all got out. Lynn continued to settle in for the fifth. He forced a ground out and a line out and struck out Dan Uggla to end the inning. Dan Descalso walked to start the bottom of the inning, but Tony Cruz and Lance Lynn both struck out. Furcal picked up his second hit of the game and advanced Descalso to second, but the inning ended on a Jon Jay ground ball.

Lynn continued to pitch solidly as he retired Heyward, Francisco, and Ross. The Cardinals finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth as Carlos Beltran belted his thirteenth home run of the season. Craig and Berkman followed that up with back to back singles to take Hanson out of the game. Chad Durbin forced Freese to fly out and Eric O’Flaherty struck out Matt Holliday. Tony Cruz hit a single to load the bases, but Tyler Green struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning with three men left on.

Victor Marte came in in the seventh to relieve Lance Lynn. He gave up a single to Tyler Pastornicky who then stole second. Marte struck out Jones and Bourn, but then gave up a run scoring single to Martin Prado. Prado stole second and was knocked in by a Freddie Freeman double. Freeman then scored on a Dan Uggla double. Kyle McClellan then came in to the game to strike out Jason Heyward, but the damage was done. The Cardinals entered the bottom half down 6-1. Furcal recorded his third hit of the game but was retired on a Jon Jay ground ball. Beltran struck out and Allen Craig hit a single to advance Jay to second. Berkman then struck out with runners on first and second to end the inning.

In the eighth inning, McClellan grounded out Eric Hinske, but allowed a free pass to David Ross. Pastornicky flew out, but then McClellan gave up another walk toChipper Jones to put men at first and second. Michael Bourn then hit a single to score Ross and make the score 7-1. Martin Prado then flew out to end the inning. The Cardinals hitters went down in order to close out the inning.

Marc Rzepczynski retired the side in the ninth and the Cardinals entered the bottom frame with a six run deficit to overcome. Tyler Greene lined out but Matt Carpenter reached base with a ground rule double. Jon Jay flew out, but Carpenter advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Carlos Beltran reached base with a walk, Allen Craig hit his fifth home run of the season to make the score 7-4. Jonny Venters came in and struck out Lance Berkman to end the game.

Box Score

Notes from the Day

• Lance Berkman was activated from the DL before the game and started the game at first base. Shane Robinson was sent down to make room on the roster for the returning Berkman.
• The pink bats were out for Mother’s Day as Jon Jay, Tyler Greene, Tony Cruz, Rafael Furcal, Lance Berkman, and Matt Holliday used the bats in the game and auctioned them off afterwards to raise money for breast cancer awareness.
• Before the game, former Braves Rafael Furcal and Adam Wainwright offered gifts to a retiring Chipper Jones. Furcal gave him a team photo autographed by the 2012 Cardinals and Wainwright gave him an autographed Stan Musial jersey. Jones was appreciative of the warm reception by the St Louis fans, saying “I’ve always enjoyed coming here, and the fan base in St. Louis is part of that. You can have an opposing player hit three home runs against the Cardinals, and these fans will give him an ovation for a job well done. It’s nice to play in a city where good baseball is appreciated. Other teams enjoy coming in here to play because they get to entertain some pretty intelligent fans.”

The Cardinals open a home series with the Chicago Cubs tonight as 4-2 Jake Westbrook takes on 0-1 Ryan Dempster. The start time for the game is 6:05 and the game will be featured on ESPN. Redbird Rants will have a recap of the game tomorrow morning.

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