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 Not Lance Lynn. It is a limited sample size, to be sure, but the
St. Louis Cardinals right-hander experiences minimal trouble with
the mile-high altitude and wide-open-spaces outfield of Coors Field.
He held the Colorado Rockies to three singles in eight innings
Monday as the Cardinals romped 8-0 in the opener of their three-game
series. Matt Adams backed Lynn with two homers and drove in a
career-high six runs.
Lynn did not walk a batter, and he struck out seven.
"Lance was terrific," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "That
kind of sink -- we saw some awkward swings on his fastball. ... He
had the four-seamer and the two-seamer working, and the
slider-cutter had more depth than it's had, and an occasional
curveball. But he really did it with controlling the bottom of the
zone with his two fastballs."
In three starts at Coors Field, Lynn is 1-0 with a 1.77 ERA. In that
span, he faced 77 batters without allowing a home run.
On Monday, he and two relievers held the Rockies scoreless at Coors
Field for the first time since July 2, 2013.
Lynn (8-5) gave up a one-out single in the first to left fielder
Corey Dickerson, then retired 16 consecutive batters until right
fielder Charlie Blackmon singled with two out in the sixth. When
Dickerson followed with a single, the Rockies had their first -- and
only -- runner reach second base. Lynn then got shortstop Troy
Tulowitzki to fly to right, and Tulowitzki threw his bat down in
disgust upon making contact.
Lynn threw his first career complete game on May 27, a 126-pitch,
five-hit shutout against the New York Yankees. After the Cardinals
lost starters Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia to shoulder injuries
Sunday, Matheny decided that there was no need to have Lynn chase
his second career complete game and shutout.
"He'd have loved to have gone back out, because his 108th (pitch)
was as good as the first," Matheny said. "That was plenty. We need
him for the long haul. We just lost two starters yesterday -- 108 is
a good number."
Cardinals relievers Randy Choate and Jason Motte combined to record
the final three outs.
During a start June 6 at Toronto, Lynn made an adjustment with his
hands, not moving them up and down during his delivery.
"It's worked well," Lynn said. "I've gotten a lot of weird and
awkward swings on my breaking pitches that I hadn't been getting,
which is a reason why we thought I might've been tipping (my
pitches). Maybe by not moving my hands, I'm just letting my lower
half work instead of getting a little jumpy up at the plate with my
upper body, which at times I do, still."
Colorado starter Jhoulys Chacin (1-6) gave up five runs on four hits
and three walks and one hit batter in six innings. He threw just 57
of 92 pitches for strikes as the Rockies lost for the eighth time in
his 10 starts this season.
"Whenever you walk a lot of guys or don't make good pitches,
especially against a team like St. Louis, you're going to pay for
it," Chacin said. "You have to make pitches and throw strikes to
them to pitch good."
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Franklin Morales, who relieved Chacin, walked Lynn in the eighth,
grazed third baseman Matt Carpenter with a pitch, and with one out,
fell behind Adams 3-1. Adams then launched the next pitch, a
fastball, to deep right-center for his eighth homer of the season
and his first multi-homer game of the season.
Adams hit a two-run single in the third inning and a solo shot in
the fifth.
The last Cardinals player with six RBIs in a game was David Freese
on June 7, 2012, at Houston. The blast against Morales was the first
for Adams, a left-handed hitter, in 46 at-bats this season against a
left-handed pitcher.
"The big thing I'm happy about is I'm laying off the sliders and the
curveballs from the lefties," Adams said, "and I'm trying to make
them come back over the plate a little bit more instead of chasing
what they want me to chase and getting out of base."
The loss was the seventh straight for the Rockies (34-42), who have
dropped 21 of their past 29 games. The Cardinals (42-35), winners of
three straight, improved to 19-18 on the road at the outset of a
10-game trip that will also include stops at San Francisco and the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
NOTES: Colorado C Michael McKenry went on the bereavement list
Monday, and he will be away from the team for three days. The
Rockies selected the contract of C Jackson Williams from Triple-A
Colorado Springs. ... Rockies RHP Christian Bergman, struck in the
base of the left hand by a line drive Friday, is expected to make
his scheduled start Wednesday. He threw a bullpen session Sunday,
and the swelling was diminished. ... Cardinals LHP Marco Gonzales
will start Wednesday in his major league debut, taking the turn of
LHP Jaime Garcia. A native of Fort Collins, Colo., Gonzalez is 3-2
with a 2.33 ERA in seven starts at Double-A Springfield. ... The
Cardinals recalled INF Pete Kozma and RHP Eric Fornataro from
Triple-A Memphis and placed RHP Michael Wacha (right shoulder stress
reaction) and Garcia (left shoulder inflammation) on the 15-day
disabled list. ... Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki was selected the
captain of the National League team for the Gillette Home Run Derby
in Minneapolis on July 14, the day before the All-Star Game.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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