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Tigers @ Cardinals recap 5.17 - Cards avoid sweep

Lynn turns in great performance, offense just enough to avoid the sweep at home to the Tigers.

By WyoCardsFan
Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Detroit Tigers @ St. Louis Cardinals

Alfredo Simon vs. Lance Lynn
7:05 p.m. CT
Busch Stadium - St. Louis, Missouri

Today's Lineups -

Some News -

  • Jaime Garcia is set to make his season debut up in the bigs on Thursday.  Sam Tuivailala took Lyons' spot on the roster for tonight.  - MLB.com
  • Pittsburgh took one from the Cubs 3-0.  - MLB.com
  • Giants win shootout against Cincinnati 9-8 - MLB.com
  • Mets over Brewers 5-1 - MLB.com
  • Old friend Shelby Miller flirted with a no-hitter - MLB.com

Things we were looking for -

Jason Heyward leading off is interesting, I guess.  Sam Tuivailala is back!  That's fun.  One of my take-aways from the first two games is that the Tigers are a lot faster than I thought they'd be.

Things that happened -

Top halves -

The Tigers jumped into the lead early on Lance Lynn when Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera found space between Jason Heyward and Peter Bourjos.  Kinsler's was a single, and then Miggy drove him around with a double.  Tigers lead 1-0.

In the second, a bouncer through the hole got Jose Iglasias a single.

Inn the third through fifth, Lynn settled in pretty well.  He had a 1-2-3 third, and in the fourth, 3 easy fly balls out to Heyward helped Lynn work around a leadoff single.  Another 1-2-3 in the fifth took him up to 83 pitches.

Kinsler led off the sixth with a bunt-single.  It felt like a momentum-turn that Lance was able to retire the heart of the order with a runner on and nobody out as he hit 100 pitches.

In the seventh, James McCann took advantage of a slight misplay from Heyward, and was able to collect a double.  Victor Martinez got his first AB of the series.  The brilliant ESPN announcers were astounded that Lynn didn't walk him on the spot.  Instead, Lynn got a line-out in foul territory to end the inning.

Lance told Matheny "I got this!" and came out for the eighth.  He got one-third of it.  When he allowed two baserunners via walk (with an assist from the home plate umpire), Maness checked in.  He was able to perform his magic Seth Maness double play thing to end the inning.  It got people fired up.  Lance's final line: 7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 119 pitches thrown.   Regarding Lynn's walk of Ian Kinsler:

Trevor Rosenthal to close it out.  McCann rapped a 2-out bloop single, but Rosie was otherwise dominant, collecting his thirteenth save.  Cards win 2-1.

Bottom halves -

Matt Carpenter did his thing and got a single in the first off of Alfredo Simon, but nobody else joined in.

Yoenis Cespedes stole a double from Matt Adams in the second, running down a liner in the gap.  It was a pretty play.  Kolten Wong worked a walk, and then got caught stealing to end the inning.

The Cards got the run back in the third.  Peter Bourjos led off with a triple into the gap.  He's fast.  Lance Lynn helped his own cause, sending a single to deep right field to tie the game.

Yadier Molina knocked a one-out  double down the left field line in the fourth.  Bourjos received an intentional walk to bring up Lynn with, who wasn't able to replicate his third inning AB.  His K ended the inning.

In the fifth, Carp hit a soft liner into left for a single.  Holliday smashed a grounder down the left field line, putting runners on second and third with one out.  We got a replay-worthy play at the plate when Jhonny Peralta grounded to third.  Carpenter attempted to make it home on the play.  The umpires decided that James McCann was able to apply the tag before he crossed.  A replay challenge ensued, but the call on the field stood.  It was close enough that i wasn't convinced either way whether or not he was safe.  Unfortunately, they couldn't push anything across.

Kolten Wong broke the tie in the seventh.  He hammered a jack that cleared the Cardinals bullpen.  It was an impressive blast, measuring at 434 feet, and it came off the bat at over 104 m.p.h.  Cards up 2-1.

Matheny chose to stick with Lynn for the seventh, so Lynn bunted Bourjos along after Peter walked.  He was left at second when lead-off man Heyward stuck out to end the inning.  That was it for Simon.  His final line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 95 pitches thrown.

Alex Wilson quickly retired two before giving up a single to Peralta in the seventh.  Tom Gorzelanny gave up a single to pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds and then a single to Molina into left.  Oquendo decided to try to send Peralta to score.  Alas, he was gunned out at the plate to end the inning and their insurance run bid.

Gorzelanny zoomed through a 1-2-3 eighth.

Final Notes -


  • Remember in 2010-2011ish when the Cards were "too reliant on the long ball"?  It's a good thing they're getting some now...

  • Lynn worked a great performance.  He had several lengthy ABs early on and got his pitch count up.  He settled in, though, and powered his way into the eighth.
  • Fangraphs
  • Gamenotes: Tigers | Cards

Looking ahead -

Tune in tomorrow as John Lackey leads the Cards to Queens to take on Matt Harvey and the Mets.  First pitch is at 6:10 CT.

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