Lynn, Cardinals Overcome Schumaker Starting in Center Field to Beat Pirates 4-1

In the aftermath of Jon Jay's collision with the center field wall at Busch Stadium, manager Mike Matheny said that the "obvious" place to play the freshly activated Skip Schumaker was center field. The first defensive play for the Cardinals on Friday night showed the folly of Matheny's statement. Speedy Pirates outfielder Alex Presley drove a fly ball to deep center field. Schumaker drifted back and mistimed the leaping catch, unable to secure the ball with an ungraceful crash into the wall. Presley raced around the bases for an inside-the-park homer. Although Schumaker milked the collision with the wall in a way that made fans fear for the worse, he left the game due to having the wind knocked out him. Luckily, the Presley inside-the-park home run would be the only Pirates run.

Lynn was nails tonight. The grizzly right-hander didn't miss a beat after the Schumakiavellian start the game. After the Schumaker-abbetted inside-the-park homer, Lynn allowed only three more hits, issued but one walk, and would not allow another run in his seven-innning start. Boggs shutdown the eighth in dominating fashion with two strikeouts. Motte closed the game out for his third save of the year.

The Cardinals scratched out four runs against Charlie Morton and the Pirates. After Carlos Beltran reached on an error to leadoff the second, Yadier Molina knocked him in with a double. In the fifth, Matt Holliday beat the relay throw on a would-be double play to extend the inning the Beltran who would single home Lynn. In the ninth, Daniel Descalso cracked a homer and Rafael Furcal plated Shane Robinson with a double.

Tomorrow's first pitch is scheduled for 12:35 P.M. and will feature Jake Westbrook versus Kevin Correia.