Cardinals blank Giants but win could be costly

The St. Louis Cardinals blank San Francisco in the middle game of the three-game series, but the win may be a costly one.

St. Louis Cardinals fans everywhere may be holding their collective breath yet again.

The Cardinals swept to a 6-0 shutout of the San Francisco Giants in Saturday action at AT&T Park, but the win was not without more suffering for Cardinal faithful.

Lance Lynn, who entered the game having never beaten the Giants, suffered a sprained right ankle while fielding a ground ball in the eighth inning. He remained on the grass for an extended period as St. Louis medical personnel raced out to see what was wrong.

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The initial fear was Lynn’s knee buckled and not the ankle, which may have spelled curtains for the Cardinals’ National League Central Division title chances.

“I felt just sick to see him go down like that because he’s a tough guy and has a high pain tolerance,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. “At first I thought it was the knee, too.”

The good news is Lynn does not expect to miss a start. However, what would you do if you were Matheny?

Honestly, I would sit him.

The Cardinals have a grip on first place in the NL Central and a surefire playoff berth unless things really go wrong. Why would you jeopardize the health of a pitcher if he wasn’t 100 percent?

Still, Lynn’s injury may heal on its own. No X-rays were necessary, so the team will take a chance on the injury healing naturally.

As for the game, triples ruled the day as Brandon Moss, Kolten Wong and Stephen Piscotty all hit three-baggers.

Piscotty had a four-hit day and raised his average to .344.

What’s next?

St. Louis will close the three-game series with a 4:05 p.m. contest on Sunday. Jaime Garcia will pitch for the Cardinals and bring his 1.77 ERA into AT&T. Chris Heston will pitch for San Francisco after earning a callup from Triple-A.