Daily Rant: Lance Lynn shuts down White Sox as Cardinals even series

I don’t know what’s happened to Lance Lynn, but I like it. It was starting to look like he had hit a wall, but his last two starts have been the best outings of his career. The team came close to wasting the effort, but thankfully Carlos Beltran belted a home run to get the Cardinals the one run they would need. Click the jump for more details.

Box Score

The Positives

• Carlos Beltran was the offensive star of the show. He his his nineteenth home run of the season in the third inning. That ended up being the game winning run in a pitcher’s duel.
• David Freese was the only other Cardinal to get a hit.
• Lance Lynn pitched seven and a third shutout innings, only allowed four base runners, and struck out twelve batters. It was the best start of his career.
• Marc Rzepczynski and Jason Motte combined for one and two thirds scoreless innings to end the game. Motte picked up his twelfth save after allowing two hits and putting himself into a tight spot.

Justin’s Jeers

• The jeers are all about the offense. Every hitter except for Beltran and Freese was held hitless. The team left a combined eight baserunners stranded. If it weren’t for Carlos Beltran’s blast, Lance Lynn’s night would have been completely wasted.

Three Stars

3) Jason Motte – Pitched himself into a jam but battled out and showed more emotion than I’ve ever seen him display.

2) Carlos Beltran – Normally I lean  towards the winning hitter in close games like this, but it was really important that pitching kept them in this game. Beltran’s blast won the game for the Cardinals though.

1) Lance Lynn – Without Lynn’s masterful work, the Cardinals would have been completely shut down.

Standings

Today’s Game

The Cardinals find themselves in yet another deciding game three. They will send out 4-6 Jake Westbrook against 4-6 Gavin Floyd. Westbrook has a 4.25 ERA to match up with Floyd’s 5.37 ERA. It looks like this one could be a shootout and it is set to start at 7:15.