Lynn makes history, shuts down Reds with good ol' fastball

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals record-setting closer Ryan Helsley -- someone who knows a thing or two about fastballs, having thrown pitches at 104.2 mph in the past -- left his team’s shutout win over the Reds on Sunday marveling not at his 30th straight save, but the guile and guts of 37-year-old starting pitcher Lance Lynn.

Like Helsley, Lynn leans heavily on his fastball, throwing three variations of it some 86 percent of the time coming into Sunday, per Baseball Savant. That the 13-year veteran can still thrive with a fastball that usually resides in the low-90s says a lot about his ability to move those pitches all around the strike zone and keep hitters shaking their heads.

“I think there’s something to be learned from Lance,” said Helsley, who used a 10-pitch ninth inning to retire the side in order with two strikeouts and close out a 2-0 win over the Reds at Busch Stadium. “He, obviously, doesn’t throw the hardest, but he kind of has that dog mentality and he just challenges guys on every pitch and makes them beat him. He really doesn’t even care if they are good fastball hitters or not because he’s just going to challenge them and make them put a bat on the ball.”

Lynn rode the power of his darting, cutting four-seam fastball on Sunday to strike out six and limit the Reds’ offense to just two hits over six scoreless innings. Lynn, who is in his second stint with the Cardinals after starring for them from 2011-17, struck out Noelvi Marte in the second inning for his 1,000th strikeout as a Cardinal. He joined Bob Gibson, Adam Wainwright, Dizzy Dean, Chris Carpenter and Bob Forsch as the only six pitchers in the rich history of the franchise with at least 1,000 strikeouts.

“That’s pretty cool. That means I’ve been here [a long time] and I was able to put up some numbers,” said Lynn, who worked as a starter and a reliever in 2011 when the Cardinals won their most recent World Series. “My first stint here was pretty good and hopefully now I can keep adding on to that [legacy].”

The work of Lynn and Helsley, who saved his club-record 30th straight save and tied Hall of Famer Lee Smith’s Cardinals mark for most saves before the All-Star break, helped St. Louis cap off a 7-3 homestand. The victory also gave the Cardinals a 16-12 record in June, their first 16-win June since 2015.

“If you look at how this [season] started ... it wasn’t good at all,” said manager Oliver Marmol, referring to his team’s 15-24 start through May 11. “There were some things that kept recurring, that kept happening, that weren’t allowing us to win.

“To dig that hole and get out of it, we had to compete extremely well to get back to .500 and above. That’s not easy to do, and we weren't able to do that last year when we dug that hole. This year, we have a different group of guys who -- it’s not that they are committed, they are convicted about what they want to do.”

Lynn, one of the newcomers to the Cardinals’ veteran-heavy rotation this season, improved to 4-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.59 by going right at hitters with his three fastballs (four-seamer, cutter and sinker). According to Statcast’s run value metric, Lynn’s four-seam fastball (+12) has been one of the best pitches in baseball this season (.202 opposing batting average heading into Sunday). Lynn threw four-seam fastballs for 53 of his 79 pitches against the Reds and induced 13 of his 17 whiffs with that pitch. He threw 75 total fastballs (four-seamer, cutter, sinker) on the day.

Adding to Lynn’s allure of challenging hitters with a pitch they know is coming, Lynn used his fastball to throw a first-pitch strike to the first 15 batters he faced.

“I’ve made a long career out of doing it this way,” Lynn said. “[First pitch] strikes help with not walking guys and it all kind of goes hand in hand. Successful outings usually mean you get ahead, you stay ahead, and you make quality pitches.”

Like Helsley, Cardinals backup catcher Pedro Pagés thinks young pitchers could learn from a pitcher like Lynn, who is not afraid to challenge hitters with a fastball they largely know is coming, but struggle to hit.

“It’s just the type of pitcher that Lance is and his ability to move the ball around -- making it cut a little bit or sink a little bit -- and he just attacks guys and loves to compete,” said Pagés, who had the first three-hit game of his young MLB career. “Everybody knows that Lance is going to attack you, but he just knows how to move it around and make his pitches work together.”