Lance Lynn impressive in home opener
White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn was on another level Friday night in his first game in his new home (Guaranteed Rate Field).
Lynn is his first game in his new home threw a complete game shutout, the second in his career (The previous one in 2014 with the Cardinals). This shutout was also the first one of the 2021 season.
Lynn looked like he did back when he was with the Cardinals early in his career. Lynn was throwing the strikeout ball more than he had in prior years or even prior starts. He also was focused on what he gets paid for, relying on his defense.
That was ever precedent in the game, with Lynn recording 11 strikeouts along with 5 hits. Lynn one of the pitchers who throws his fastball more than any other pitcher in the league stuck with that in this game. With 10 of his strikeouts either on his fastball or his sinker.
For the first half of the game, Lynn was perfect. Then in the top of the fifth inning Royals catcher, Salvador Perez singled off Lynn giving the Royals their first hit of the game.
While this may phase some pitchers, Lynn did not let it phase him. He kept dealing and dominating Royal’s hitters. It felt as if the 33-year old pitcher looked more like his 27-year old self.
After the game Lynn was asked about his performance and said “Once the pitch count started to get up I started to get loose and everything started to feel good…When it goes pitch count wise and trying to go deep into the game, that’s what I try to do and do everything I can to help the team win.”
Lynn obviously felt as if he was on his A-game. Honestly, who can blame him, I mean both of his starts so far this season have been more than what the White Sox were expecting out of him when they traded for him. I think Lance has easily exceeded expectations early on throughout the season.
If you were a White Sox fan watching this game, this had to be the tremendous start you had to have been hoping for if you are looking to make it into the playoffs.
With how the ace Lucas Giolito has transformed into a dominant pitcher in the league and Lynn, who was brought onto this team to primarily eat innings and save the arms of the bullpen. However, if he can still eat the innings AND pitch a game even close to this with let's say 8–10 strikeout per game and give up a run or two per game this will be a terrifying one-two combo to face for any team.
The potential danger this team poses amongst the entire Americal League is unchallenged. With the offense rocking on all four cylinders and the pitching becoming one of the more dominant staffs in all of baseball I think that this fanbase has a lot of good baseball ahead of themselves.
