Lynn beats Rangers.


After five starts, Lance Lynn is 3-0 with a 1.11 ERA and a .111 batting average against.

Give Lance Lynn two Ws for his complete game last night.

One W for beating the Colorado Rockies dominating offense.

One W for beating the Texas Rangers sloppy defense.

Actually, give him a third W for beating convention. After striking out all three batters in the eighth inning, Lance Lynn told his manager, “I’m finishing it.”

Pitch counts and closers and all the crutches that have conspired to turn the modern starting pitcher into a fragile china doll be damned.

Lynn was going to finish what the Rangers defense tried to ruin. Even though only one run was unearned, both should have been. The very first defensive play the Rangers attempted was botched into a single. That runner scored.

But Lynn was masterful. A lesser pitcher would have melted down when his defense around him was so bad. Lynn just got tougher.

He shut down the Rockies in order in the second, third, fourth, and fifth.

Bad defense got him again in the sixth, with the Rangers committing two more miscues. But the fact that he allowed only one run to score in all that mess is a testament to how smart Lynn is on the mound.

After that, he was lights out again. The Rockies went out meekly, one-two-three, in the seventh, eighth, and ninth.

Two hits. One earned run. Nine innings.

Lance Lynn is in beast mode.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Kyle Gibson (0-2, 4.11) vs. German Marquez (2-2, 2.08)

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