Chicago White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn has struggled at times in his career against the Houston Astros, and those struggles continued on Thursday as he was shelled for five runs in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
Lynn, who had an 11-6 record and a 2.69 ERA for the White Sox this season, was pulled from the game in the fourth inning.
After a scoreless first inning, Lynn allowed an RBI single to Jake Meyers in the second. In the third, Alex Bregman picked up an RBI fielder’s choice, and Yordan Alvarez doubled to left-center field, scoring Bregman and putting Houston in front 3-0.
Lynn’s struggles continued in the fourth, as Michael Brantley stroked a two-out single to center field to score Meyers and Jose Altuve, putting Houston in front 5-0 and leading Tony La Russa to pull Lynn from the game.
In 14 career regular season appearances against Houston, including 13 starts, Lynn has posted a 5-7 record and a 4.41 ERA, surrendering 14 home runs to the Astros in 81.2 innings of work.
The .441 slugging percentage the Astros have put up against Lynn is the third-highest of any team, and the .255 batting average against is the seventh-highest.
Lynn was relieved by pitcher Reynaldo Lopez, who finished the fourth inning without any further damage.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.