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On a beautiful night at Busch Stadium, Tyler Lyons (4.62 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 3.76 xFIP Career) faced off against the Cubs and Kyle Hendricks (5.23 ERA, 3.28 FIP, 3.26 xFIP).
Lyons, of course, was brought up from Memphis to cover the Adam Wainwright Memorial Rotation Spot this time around. Unsurprising after Tim Cooney 's ugly start in the previous AWMRS. This was Lyons' first major league start of the season.
In other news, old friend Shelby Miller pitched himself a 99 pitch Maddux tonight. Congrats, Shelbs!
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<div class="sidebar"><a href="http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2014/4/19/5630196/what-we-can-expect-from-tyler-lyons-in-the-rotation">
<h2>What we can expect from Tyler Lyons in the rotation</h2>
<!-- Optional Image, Remove if you'd like --> <img src="https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CVLszT_XSjJloFjBMNhij0GsKK8=/41x0:3957x2611/709x473/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31843499/20130826_ajl_ac1_047.0.jpg" /> <!-- End image --> </a> <span> A look at Tyler Lyons' repertoire last April by Joe Schwarz</span></div>
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The Game
Lyons was fine tonight, if inefficient. His breaking stuff was working right from the start, but he often went into deep counts to finish off the Cubbie batters. It took Lyons 52 pitches to get through the first two innings.
The Cardinals would get in front in the 2nd when Yadier Molina hit the very definition of a seeing-eye grounder straight up the middle past Hendricks, past Starlin Castro, and past Addison Russell, scoring Jhonny Peralta. A 1-0 Cardinals lead.
The Cards had a chance at taking an earlier lead in the 1st with Jon Jay and Matt Holliday at the corners, but Jay went/was sent home on a short pop up into center caught by Castro. Jay was a dead ducky at home.
Lyons was able to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam in the 2nd, but surrendered the tying run in the 3rd. Anthony Rizzo singled, and then went to third on a throwing error by Lyons checking on Rizzo at first. Adams wasn't able to corral the throw and it went into foul territory. Jorge Soler managed a sacrifice fly to drive Rizzo home.
The Cubs took a 4-1 lead in the 5th. Russell doubled off the left field wall to lead off the inning. Rizzo walked and there were runners at the corners. Kris Bryant singled and put the Cubs ahead 2-1. Soler singled to load up the bases. That ended the night for Lyons, and Seth Maness was brought in to relieve. Maness nearly got Castro on his signature ground into double play, but the throw from Wong pulled Adams off the bag and 2 runs scored.
Lyons line on the night: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Thankfully the Good Guys came right back in the bottom of the 5th. Wong doubled to deep right field. Peter Bourjos pinch hit for Maness and was plunked. Then with these two duckies on the pond Matt Carpenter drilled a liner into deep right field for a home run and a 4-4 tie!
Mitch Harris took care of the 6th for the Cardinals. Meanwhile, familiar face Edwin Jackson took the ball for the Cubs. Singles by Yadi and Kolten Wong put runners on for pinch hitter Mark Reynolds. As he's been doing so much lately, he had another clutch moment driving home Yadi with a double to center that nearly got out of the park. Then Matty Carp sac flied Wong home for a 6-4 lead.
Kevin Siegrist was double switched in for the 7th, replacing Adams in the #4 spot, Reynolds staying in at 1B batting 9.
In the bottom of the frame, Heyward "hit" a single up the middle that both Castro and Russell could have played, but they comically collided. Ruled a hit. For real. Yadi hit a hard ground out to 3B, but Heyward was able to go all the way around to 3B on the throw. Wong then beats out grounder for a single, scoring Heyward. 7-4 Cards.
Siegrist and Miguel Socolovich took care of the 8th and Trevor Rosenthal closed out the 9th.
<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=350&w=550&date=2015-05-05&team=Cardinals&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="350" width = "550" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-05-05&team=Cardinals&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>
That's 8 straight wins now and a 20-6 record. Winning is fun!
Tomorrow, it's more Cards/Cubs as Jon Lester (4.71 ERA, 2.36 FIP, 2.85 xFIP) pitches and tries to find first baseagainst Lance Lynn (3.07 ERA, 2.04 FIP, 2.79 xFIP). First pitch on or about 7:15pm Central.
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