Lance Lynn: The Emerging St. Louis Cardinals Ace

It’s been a tale of two seasons for St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Adam Wainwright.

Wainwright emerged as the Cardinals ace over the years when Chris Carpenter kept getting sidelined due to injuries. Lynn, though, stepped in to the spotlight when Carpenter was sidelined for the bulk of 2012 with an injury. There were times late in 2012 when Lynn was sent to the bullpen but he seems to be completely settled down now.

Yes, Lynn has been dealt a blow with giving up many runs in a big inning but those days, more or less seem to be over. The days of Lynn as being considered ace-like material are already here.

Since facing the Miami Marlins on July 4, Lynn is 6-2 with a 1.85 ERA. In 63.1 innings pitched the Indiana native has allowed 13 runs on 54 hits. He’s walked 23 and struck out 56 batters.

In 27 starts this season, Lynn has a 14-8 record with 2.79 ERA. He’s closing in on 150 strikeouts for the season.

Against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, Lynn pitched six innings and allowed two runs. It was his ninth quality start in his last ten games. It was the offense that failed to give him the run support to push him to fifteen wins on the season.

With Wainwright appearing to be human, it’s good that the Cardinals have Lynn looking like the talent that we knew he could be all along.