Lynn's mindset up 8 runs? 'Don't screw it up'

One thought ran through starting pitcher Lance Lynn’s mind as the White Sox scored eight runs on nine hits in the first inning of Saturday’s 9-1 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium before the right-hander even took the mound.

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“Don’t screw it up,” Lynn said with a smile. “They spot you eight in the first, and I’ve got to make sure I get zeros on the board so we get this going and have a good night.”

Lynn, now 3-1 on the year, didn’t screw it up. In fact, when the Royals made a pitching change in the first, Lynn went back to the hitting tunnel and threw balls off the net to stay loose.

The White Sox as a team didn’t screw it up either, and in the process they made a statement before fans could even get situated or Royals starter Daniel Lynch could work up a sweat. The rookie Kansas City southpaw lasted only two-thirds of an inning.

Saturday’s victory improved the White Sox to 18-13, putting them a season-best five games over .500. They maintained their half-game lead over the Indians in the American League Central, albeit at the season’s 31-game mark, and their starting pitching continued to be almost unsinkable.

With the five innings thrown by Lynn, White Sox starters have produced 25 1/3 consecutive scoreless frames. Cleveland’s 5-0 victory over Lucas Giolito on May 2 represents the last time a Chicago starter was scored upon.

“Every team I’ve been on that has had great postseason runs had quality starting pitching,” said Lynn, who walked four, struck out six and allowed one hit in his second five-inning stint since coming off the 10-day injured list. “When you are trying to do that, you have to have five, six, seven guys who can show up and give you quality innings, especially starting the game.

“We will feed off each other. We are not afraid to get after each other and make sure that everybody is doing their job and make sure that we are trying to push each other from start in to start out, whether it’s talking about game plans and what we see and how we see guys attacking things and stuff like that. We are keeping each other accountable.”

There were eight runs worth of cushion for Lynn to work with courtesy of the White Sox offense erupting in the first inning, when the lineup collectively hit for the cycle. Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal opened the game with singles, Yoán Moncada doubled home both of them and Yasmani Grandal added a sacrifice fly for a quick 3-0 lead. But the White Sox were far from done.

Rookie Andrew Vaughn doubled home a run, just missing his first career home run, and Leury García tripled home the White Sox fifth run of the frame. Danny Mendick, making his first start in right field, launched a two-run homer on a 2-2 pitch, and singles from Anderson, Madrigal and Moncada completed the opening outpouring.

“When I got up after everyone was hitting, it was like, all right, I was almost more concerned about going out to right field and I wasn’t really worried about hitting,” Mendick said. “And then to catch a barrel like that and hit one good, especially here in Kansas City, it was nice. It was a good first inning.”

“That’s the best string of at-bats we’ve had all season,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “We’ve had four, five, six hitters deep, but this went 11 or 12, whatever it was. If he made a mistake on the plate, we hit it.”

Mendick’s blast gave the White Sox 27 home runs as a team, which ranks last in the American League after this group topped the AL with 96 in 2020. But that total [doesn't] worry La Russa. Not with the approach they showed in picking up their third win in four games on this five-game road trip.

“If we do what we did tonight, we’re going to score a lot of runs,” La Russa said. “The biggest mistake now is always trying to hit home runs and not just getting the ball on the barrel. If we start doing that, we’ll go backward.

“Especially now, I don’t pay attention to it because it’s been cold, wind blowing, we hit two or three balls hard that didn't go out of the park. When it warms up, we’ll hit home runs. As long as we make great contact, our offense is in great shape.”