Philadelphia, PA – Lance Lynn struck out eight over seven stellar innings of one-hit ball to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday in the third installment of a four-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Lynn (3-0) walked just three to earn his third win in four starts, while Trevor Rosenthal and Mitchell Boggs each spun an inning in relief to secure the shutout for the Cards, who have taken two of three from the Phillies.
"He had the heavy sinker working today and was able to jam it in there and establish that," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said of Lynn. "It made everything else better. It was a good day for Lance."
Allen Craig clubbed a two-run single as part of a four-run third, with Yadier Molina and David Freese each adding an RBI base hit to the rally. Carlos Beltran belted his third home run in as many days in the fifth to account for the final margin.
Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 11 games, but the Phillies managed just three hits as a team. Cliff Lee (2-1) was tagged for all five runs on seven hits and three walks over five frames for Philadelphia, which has dropped five of its last six.
All three of Lee's walks came during St. Louis' four-run third, as the left- hander issued a leadoff walk to Pete Kozma before walking Shane Robinson following a strikeout of Lynn.
Lee then got Beltran to fly out for the second out, but a walk to Matt Holliday kept the inning alive. Craig then scorched a single to center to plate a pair before Molina and Freese smacked back-to-back RBI singles to right for a 4-0 lead.
"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses," Lee said. "I had trouble commanding the ball. I think I walked three guys in a row in the third inning and all those guys scored. I have to do a better job of commanding the strike zone."
Beltran launched Lee's second offering of the fifth into the seats in left- center field to push St. Louis' lead to 5-0.
John Mayberry doubled to start the bottom half, but Lynn retired the next three Phillies in order to leave Mayberry stranded at second.
Freddy Galvis reached on an error to start the ninth and Young followed two batters later with a single to give the Phillies some late life, but Boggs got Domonic Brown to ground into a game-ending double play.
Game Notes
Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard missed his second consecutive game with a groin injury ... Philadelphia went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position ... Molina collected three hits for the Cardinals.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.