PITTSBURGH _ In short, it was the worst of 160 starts in Lance Lynn's big-league career. And it scarcely could have come at a worse time.
The St. Louis Cardinals' righthander failed to last the first inning Saturday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates laid into him for eight runs and then played out an 11-6 victory, costing the Cardinals position in the wild-card race and curtailing their faint hopes for a division title.
Lynn tied his briefest outing as far as innings pitched (2/3) although he needed 42 pitches to get those two outs. With all sorts of scouts watching this start for the potential free agent, Lynn never really got started as the Pirates obliterated a two-run Tommy Pham homer in the top of the first at PNC Park.
His eight runs allowed exceeded the seven runs (three earned) he had given up to the Pirates in the first inning on Aug. 13, 2015 in St. Louis.
When their dismal night was over, the Cardinals, who dusted off veteran Adam Wainwright for two innings of relief and tied a record for most pinch hitters employed in an inning, trailed the Chicago Cubs by five games in the division race. They fell a half game behind Milwaukee in the second wild-card derby and two games behind Colorado, pending the outcome of the Rockies' game in San Diego.
The Cardinals were not going down without a fight Saturday at PNC Park as they tied a major league record.
As they scored three runs in the sixth inning to cut a huge Pittsburgh lead to 10-6, the Cardinals employed six pinch hitters, with three of them hitting safely, as manager Mike Matheny took many of his regulars out of what had been a one-sided game.
Aledmys Diaz, in his first at-bat since being recalled, doubled and scored. Randal Grichuk singled home a run as a pinch hitter, as did Harrison Bader before Tommy Pham, who had driven in the first three runs for the Cardinals with a homer and a double, grounded into a forceout to end the inning.
Lynn, lifted after he issued his second walk of the first inning, was tagged for two more runs after his relief, Josh Lucas, didn't shut the door.
Lynn allowed a leadoff double to Adam Frazier, who had been one for nine against him and walked Starling Marte. First baseman Matt Carpenter could not catch up to an Andrew McCutchen foul ball that just reached hands in the stands and then McCutchen, batting .222 against Lynn, singled to load the bases.
Josh Bell foul-tipped strike three for the first out but David Freese bit the hand that once fed him with a two-run single. Gregory Polanco's single put the Pirates ahead, Elias Diaz's single re-loaded the bases and Jordy Mercer's triple, when center fielder Dexter Fowler missed on a sliding catch attempt, made it 6-2.
Lynn struck out pitcher Gerrit Cole but was done after the walk to Frazier. A seventh run scored on Lucas' wild pitch and the eighth on a triple by Marte before the sidearming Lucas low-bridged McCutchen with a fastball that got away before getting McCutchen to ground out
