St. Louis Cardinals' Lance Lynn to start in NLCS Game 1 – NLCS News
St. Louis Cardinals will use Lance Lynn for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, as they have made it to playoffs after victory over the Washington Nationals 9-7. Lynn was not a part of the rotation for Friday’s decisive National League Division Series Game 5 against the rivals.
In the upcoming NLCS, the rotation will have an important role to play in determining the fate of the Cardinals. Their choice for Friday’s finale was none other than Adam Wainwright.
That was being touted as a good decision at that point in time, no matter what the consequential result was. With Chris Carpenter doing his bit in Game 3, wherein he helped the team’s victory, reliance on another ace in Game 5 as the Redbirds decision paid off.
The fact that Jaime Garcia is no longer part of the rotation due to the left shoulder injury that he sustained in Game 2, the likes of Lynn, Carpenter and Wainwright will have additional responsibilities on their shoulders in the days to come.
It was Lance Lynn who was brought in to replace Garcia when he suffered from a shoulder injury in Game 2, tossing 50 pitches as reliever in that crucial game.
On Garcia, the team general manager John Mozeliak said, "Because he's still feeling some discomfort, they'd rather go in and see what might be bothering him than guessing."
The National League Championship Series will be of crucial importance for the World Series champions, the Cardinals. Currently defending the title, victory in Game 5 has made the Cardinals ambitions clear for the bigger glory.
It is here that Lynn prominently figures in. In the 35 games that he had in the regular season, Lynn had a wonderful 18-7 with 3.78 ERA and 180 strike-outs. He remains fourth in NL in wins and seventh in winning percentage with .720.
It will be interesting to see how Lance Lynn grapples with the stark challenge ahead. His effort will certainly entail not being expensive like Adam Wainwright in Game 5, allowing six runs in his 2.1 innings with 7.88 ERA.
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