*Photo from ESPN*
On the Chicago White Sox home opener, Lance Lynn went out and dominated. Lynn threw a complete game shutout, Yoan Moncada homered, and the White Sox shut out the Kansas City Royals with a 6-0 win on Thursday night. Yermin Mercedes also homered for Chicago.
In the first inning, a two run homer by Moncada and a solo homer from Mercedes made it 3-0 White Sox right out of the gate. In the second inning, Nick Madrigal scored on a sac fly to increase the lead to 4-0. In the 6th, Adam Eaton hit a two run single to left field, scoring Madrigal and Yasmani Grandal to make it 6-0 White Sox, which held for the rest of the night.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa said of Lynn's dominance that "What he did today was the first pitch on, he was just nails. I told Yasmani after the game, 'Outstanding.' I said, 'You had a lot to work with,' and he said, 'I really did.' He had control of all his pitches, very deceptive, the ball had life. Kansas City came in as one of the top hitting clubs in our league."
Lynn threw all 9 innings in the complete game shutout, getting his first win of the season to go to 1-0 in two starts, getting a no decision in his first start. Lynn allowed zero runs on 5 hits, now allowing a single walk, and racking up 11 strikeouts in the win, which was pretty convincing from the start.
Lynn said of coming back out for the 9th inning that "There wasn’t much of a conversation. La Russa looked at me and said, ‘Are you good?’ And I said, ‘I’m going to finish it. Does that sound good?’ And he said, 'Yeah.' That was pretty much it. I was under 100 pitches so I had plenty left."
Brad Keller took the loss for the Royals this time around, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks, recording 3 strikeouts in just 3 1/3 innings pitched. Carlos Hernandez was responsible for the other two runs scored by Chicago, working just 1/3 of an inning. Kyle Zimmer, Josh Staumont, and Wade Davis also pitched.
Keller said of his outing that "I just feel like I haven’t had the same conviction behind the pitches. Being a little timid, especially going in on some guys, trying to place some balls instead of throwing through the catcher. Trying to be so fine and making the perfect pitch instead of just going after guys and letting them get themselves out."
The Royals and White Sox face off on Saturday after a day off, with Mike Minor starting for the Royals, and Dylan Cease starting for the White Sox.
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