Lynn 'outstanding' in Game 1 despite rough first half to 2023

CHICAGO -- Lance Lynn has had a strange season.

The 5-8 record and 6.03 ERA after his 18th start Thursday in the White Sox 6-2 extra-inning Game 1 loss and their 5-4 loss in Game 2 at Guaranteed Rate Field left him with the second-highest ERA among qualified starters, tied for first with the Royals’ Jordan Lyles at 69 earned runs allowed and tied for first with Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi at 22 home runs allowed.

Those numbers indicate one of the worst first halves of the otherwise steady if not elite career for the veteran right-hander. As for how Lynn feels on the mound? Well, that’s a different story.

“To be honest with you, I've got more stuff than I've ever had in my career,” said Lynn after he finished with a no-decision in Game 1. “So it's kind of a weird feeling when you look at the numbers of win/loss and ERA being as bad as they are.

“There's a lot of good I've done. It just doesn't look it. So I've just got to keep going, and hopefully everything kind of evens out at the end of the year. If I keep doing what I'm doing, it should.”

Lynn, who had one of his best games in a White Sox uniform during Game 1, worked seven almost unhittable innings, striking out 11 and allowing one walk and one George Springer single. It was the 26th career double-digit strikeout game for Lynn and his first since June 18 in Seattle, when he matched the franchise-record with 16.

Even with that single-game mark in tow, Lynn was better against the Blue Jays. The White Sox had Jesse Scholtens and a bullpen game in the nightcap and will do the same Saturday against the Cardinals in between Dylan Cease and Lucas Giolito, so they needed Lynn to do some work.

Work is what he did, with 25 swings and misses, according to Statcast, in a pitchers' battle with José Berríos.

“Lance was outstanding. We can’t ask for a better start than that. Pounding the strike zone, economizing pitches, used all his pitches. He was really good,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.. “Good games are 15, 18, 20 [swings and misses] and he’s up there 24, 30. You can’t ask for anything more than what he’s given us.”

“It was good for the most part,” Lynn said. “One walk, but every pitch was pretty much where I wanted it to be. I was able to make pitches against some good hitters and kept them off balance, moving in and out. I was able to pitch to my game plan.”

Lynn has a 11.10 K/9 rate in 103 innings this season. No pitcher has ever had an ERA north of 6.00 and a K/9 rate over 11 in 100+ innings in a season. Those numbers reinforce the point Lynn was making about his stuff.

So, how does he get the numbers to match that feeling? Keep doing what he’s doing, but keep the ball in the ballpark.

“When I have my bad ones, mistakes are leaving the ballpark,” Lynn said. “So figure out how to make sure that doesn't happen, and hopefully I'll have better success with not giving up runs.”

One caveat exists with the Lynn story, in that he might not be working his craft for the White Sox much longer. The White Sox dropped to 0-6 on the season to the Blue Jays (48-40).

These losses pushed the White Sox to 37-52. They had a miserable April with a 7-21 season record on April 29, and have gone 30-31 since that day. They were nine games out of first place in the American League Central at the end of April and will start their first-half closing series against the Cardinals at 8 1/2 games out.

This team has sellers written all over it, and not only is Lynn a valuable mound commodity, but a clubhouse leader as seen, in part, by the players frequently gathered around his locker. With an $18 million club option and $1 million buyout for ‘24, Lynn is sure to draw interest.

“Usually at the Trade Deadline you're either going for it or you're out of it,” Lynn said. “So hopefully we can put a nice stretch together here and make them add and we can have a chance to make a run at it.

“Everybody's doing everything they can. We've got to start winning games, or none of that matters, to be honest.”