Cardinals muster only two hits in shutout loss to Giants
ST. LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was worlds more effective than his last time out. The St. Louis Cardinals pitcher was in a bottom-line mood.
"A loss is a bad outing," the right-hander said after a 2-0 setback to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. "Plain and simple."
Lynn (9-8) allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings, five days after the shortest start of his career when he recorded just two outs in a loss to Pittsburgh. He walked a season-high five, one intentional.
Manager Mike Matheny had anticipated Lynn, who's been fiery in the past, would come out with an edge. As Matheny had hoped, it was used productively.
"I think he knew he wasn't going to put one up like he last time and he came out challenging guys, too," Matheny said. "He wasn't trying to make perfect pitches.
"He was trusting his stuff, he was trusting his defense. He gave us chance and that's all we asked him to do."
The Cardinals just couldn't get anything going offensively.
"That's baseball, we go through it," Matheny said. "Sometimes you just can't get them going and other times they'll come in bunches, and there's no reason it shouldn't for us."
Ryan Vogelsong pitched six innings of two-hit ball and ace Madison Bumgarner keyed a seventh-inning rally with his first career pinch-hit.
"That wasn't damaging," Lynn said of Bumgarner's two-out single. "It was the two walks after it."
Lynn (9-8) was lifted after walking Gregor Blanco and Matt Duffy to load the bases, and Randy Choate hit Brandon Belt to force in Bumgarner for a 2-0 lead. Seth Maness then struck out Buster Posey for the final out.
Brandon Crawford doubled leading off the fifth for the Giants' first hit when left fielder Brandon Moss couldn't quite hold onto his drive down the line near both walls. He had a run-scoring groundout in the sixth for the first run.
The Giants have won six of eight and handed the Cardinals just their 19th home loss compared with 45 wins.
The teams have combined for five runs the first two games of a three-game series.
Vogelsong (9-8) struck out five and walked one while throwing 101 pitches. It was his third straight start in place of Mike Leake, who was acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline, but has been sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Bumgarner is 1 for 5 as a pinch-hitter in his career after cashing in on his first chance this year. The 14-game winner shut out the Washington Nationals on Sunday and hit his fourth homer of the season.
Santiago Casilla worked the ninth for his 29th save in 34 chances, finishing the two-hitter.
Threat of heavy rain that never really materialized delayed the start for 31 minutes.
ON THE BOARD
San Francisco LF Ryan Lollis, a 37th-round draft pick out of Missouri in 2009, singled in the eighth for his first career hit.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: OF Hunter Pence is expected to miss at least two weeks after an MRI for a left oblique injury. The Giants had not put Pence on the DL.
Cardinals: OF Jason Heyward was out of the lineup, but the injury was not believed to be serious, perhaps just cramping, and he could return soon. Matheny said he was not available Tuesday.
UP NEXT
San Francisco RHP Matt Cain (2-3, 6.05 ERA) is 0-2 with an 8.24 ERA in his last four outings. Jaime Garcia (5-4, 1.57 ERA) was the first member of the Cardinals' rotation to pitch into the ninth his last time out.
