Lance Lynn goes the distance, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals in their home opener: ‘He threw a gem today’
Lance Lynn #LanceLynn
Lance Lynn didn’t have to do much to convince Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa to let him attempt a complete game.
“There wasn’t much of a conversation,” Lynn said. “He 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.”
Lynn finished what he started, tossing a five-hit shutout in a 6-0 victory against the Kansas City Royals in the Sox home opener Thursday in front of 8,207 fans at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Yoan Moncada and Yermin Mercedes also gave the Sox fans plenty to cheer about, hitting back-to-back homers in the first. Moncada hit a two-run home run and Mercedes followed with a 485-foot solo blast.
Lynn did the rest in his Sox home debut, striking out 11 without allowing a walk on 111 pitches.
Lynn, acquired in the offseason in a trade with the Texas Rangers, recorded the first complete game in a Sox home opener since Britt Burns on April 19, 1985, against the Boston Red Sox and the first shutout since Wilbur Wood on April 9, 1976, against the Royals.
Lynn is the first pitcher in American League history to throw a shutout with 10-plus strikeouts and no walks in his team’s home opener.
“He threw a gem today,” Moncada said through an interpreter.
The start of the game was delayed a 2 hour, 12 minutes because of rain.
“It was extremely boring because you can’t hang out with anyone,” Lynn said. “There’s no couch to sit on and you have to wear your mask the whole time. So it wasn’t enjoyable.
“I sat at my locker away from everyone, social distance.”
His work in the bullpen before the game wasn’t anything to write home about.
“Typical ‘felt terrible had good success’ situation, to be honest with you,” Lynn said.
He struck out the side in the first and cruised from there.
“As the game went on, rain showers and things, once I got to build the pitch count up, I started to get loose and everything felt pretty good,” Lynn said.
The 11 strikeouts are the second-most by a Sox starting pitcher in a home opener. Edwin Jackson struck out 13 in 2011.
“What he did today was like the first pitch on, he was just nails,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “I told (catcher) Yasmani (Grandal) after the game, I said, ‘Outstanding.’ I said, ‘You had a lot to work with,’ and he said, ‘I really did.’ He had control of of all his pitches, very deceptive, the ball had life.”
La Russa managed Lynn in 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals when the right-hander was a rookie.
“Now where he’s at, he’s experienced,” La Russa said. “The ball does different things. He has like three different fastballs, a nice breaking ball. He’s really just become a veteran pitcher who understands, keeps adding here and adding there so the hitters have to see different things. It’s really impressive.”
Lynn said he has been utilizing the three fastballs for “a long time.”
“I know it’s not very sexy but it also helps me get outs and I do it at a pretty good pace, so it works for me,” Lynn said. “I’ve been able to do it on both sides of the plate, work the ball up and down and change speeds with it. Hitters don’t like it.”
Moncada and Mercedes supplied the offensive support early.
Mercedes’ 485-foot home run was the third-longest by a Sox player at Guaranteed Rate Field, behind Joe Borchard (504 feet on Aug. 30, 2004, against the Philadelphia Phillies) and Frank Thomas (495 feet on July 23, 2002, against the Minnesota Twins).
Danny Mendick had three hits, tying a career high. Mercedes and Adam Eaton both had two hits, and Eaton drove in two.
Mercedes went 2-for-4 with the home run to continue his sizzling start. He was named the American League Player of the Week on Monday after going 9-for-14 in his first three games, including an 8-for-8 start to the season. He added three hits Monday night and one more Tuesday.
“Feeling great because I have all my people here, my family here, my fans here,” Mercedes said. “It’s just so exciting because I’m getting my first homer here at the stadium.
“I just want to know my fans, just to give love. They know I’m in love with them. They’re feeling that.”
It was also a memorable day for La Russa, who managed the Sox from the home dugout for the first time since 1986.
“That’s the kind of opener, 30-some years, that’s what you want,” La Russa said. “But to do it coming back here was like Fantasy Island because it usually doesn’t work that way. … The team was ready to play, our pitcher pitched great, we played defense behind him.
“But the other thing, I could feel the excitement. The fans were looking forward to watching this club and after we get as a community, we start getting a whole bunch of people here and it gets warmer and you hear that, ‘Nah, nah, nah’ stuff, it’s great fun.”
White Sox right fielder Adam Eaton singles during the sixth inning against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 8, 2021.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune