LDN - Sports

Cardinals' Lynn tosses six shutout innings in rout of Braves

[May 06, 2017] ATLANTA -- Lance Lynn, who missed last season after Tommy John elbow surgery, won his fourth straight start as the St. Louis Cardinals gave the veteran right-hander a lot more offensive support than he needed in a 10-0 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

Aledmys Diaz drove in three runs while going 4-for-4 with a walk.

Tommy Pham, just recalled from Triple-A Memphis, and Matt Carpenter hit two-run homers.

"The offense did a great job," Lynn said.

Lynn (4-1) lowered his ERA to 2.04 with six innings in which he allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six.

"I really felt physically good all night," Lynn said. "It was a little bit with the (cold) weather, a little bit with the seven days between outings. It was a little bit of everything."

Lynn has pitched 25 innings during his four-game winning streak and surrendered just two runs and 16 hits. He stranded six runners in six innings, including two in each of the first two innings.

"The command wasn't great, but I was able to get out of jams when I got into them," Lynn said.

The Cardinals (14-14) came in as one of the lowest scoring teams in the National League but collected a season-high 16 hits off five Atlanta pitchers. Eight of them went for extra bases, despite being without outfielders Stephen Piscotty (strained hamstring) and Dexter Fowler (strained shoulder).

Piscotty had to go on the 10-day disabled list Friday and Fowler is day to day.

Pham was called up to replace Piscotty and started in center in place of Fowler.

"It's an honor (to be here)," said Pham, who doubled his homer his first time up and homered his second. "That's one thing I learned from being down there, man. One thing I realized today is being up here and having that stride, like a little kid playing a game again. ... I'm happy to be back up."

It was the second straight blowout loss for the Braves (11-16) as they lost to the New York Mets 16-5 on Wednesday.

Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz (0-4) allowed seven runs and nine hits in four innings, with his ERA jumping from 2.45 to 4.55.

"He didn't have it and it got away. He had a rough outing," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Foltynewicz. "He'd been really good, but you need to be really good all the time. Your starter sets the tone for the game."

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Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (31) delivers a pitch to an Atlanta Braves batter in the first inning of their game at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinals scored a run in the first on doubles by Jose Martinez and Jedd Gyorko. The inning ended on a diving catch by left fielder Matt Kemp, but St. Louis erupted for four runs in the third.

Diaz drove in two runs with a double and Pham picked on a hanging 1-1 slider from Foltynewicz and sent a drive out to straightway center field over the glove of a leaping Ender Inciarte.

Carpenter matched Pham with a two-run homer in the fourth, on a 2-2 two-seamer that also went to center and over Inciarte, who made a futile jump. It was Carpenter's fifth homer of the season.

"First or second inning, I knew I didn't have my stuff," Foltynewicz said. "I left all my pitches up. Giving up seven runs is hard."

NOTES: RF Stephen Piscotty, who suffered a strained right hamstring Thursday against Milwaukee trying to beat out a grounder, was placed on the 10-day disabled list and OF Tommy Pham recalled from Triple-A Memphis. ... Pham started against the Braves in place of CF Dexter Fowler, who is day tt day with strained throwing shoulder suffered Thursday driving to make a diving catch. Fowler had an MRI, which found no structural damage in his right shoulder. ... Braves CF Ender Inciarte had three hits for the Braves, including a triple. ... Cardinals 3B Jhonny Peralta (upper-respiratory infection) went 0-for-2 in his first rehab game with Single-A Palm Beach. ... RHP Mike Leake (3-1, 1.35 ERA) will start for the Cardinals in the middle game of the weekend series Saturday night against RHP Julio Teheran (2-2, 4.33). ... Braves manager Brian Snitker has tendinitis in his right Achilles and is wearing a boot on his right foot part time to help it heal.

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