Lance Lynn set a career high with 16 strikeouts on Sunday, and tied a White Sox franchise record in the process. But as fans and statisticians followed Lynn on his path to history, Lynn himself was completely oblivious.
“(Pitching coach) Ethan (Katz) said at one point, ‘Hey, you’ve got a career high.’ And I said, ‘Of what?’” Lynn said after the game. “After that I was like, maybe I’ll throw a career high in pitches, too.”
Lynn did close to that career high. White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said he believed Lynn’s top mark was 119 pitches, and he sent Lynn out to start the 8th inning with his pitch count at 113.
“I wouldn’t push him much more than that, but I would’ve given him 119, 120,” Grifol said.
It wasn’t meant to be. On Lynn’s 114th pitch, Kolton Wong singled on a bunt and Grifol went to the bullpen.
The White Sox went into the game looking for Lynn to pitch as deep as he could since their relievers had been taxed in previous games, and Lynn delivered.
“My goal was to make sure nobody was used,” Lynn said. “Came a little short of that, but all-in-all I had good stuff.”
“He was a No. 1 when we needed it,” Grifol said.
Lynn has been a dominant starter for most of his career, but has struggled mightily this season. In Lynn’s three starts prior to Sunday, he only lasted 14.0 innings and gave up 17 earned runs and six home runs. That was good for a 10.93 ERA. Batters consistently reached base against him too. Over the same time period, Lynn allowed batters to slash .349/.431/.746 against him.
Normally a turnaround like Sunday’s would encourage a player moving forward, but Lynnー ever the bristly competitorー wasn’t able to find much joy in his performance.
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“My stuff was good today, but we lost,” Lynn said. “It doesn’t matter how many you strike out if you don’t win the game.”
