PHILADELPHIA — The colorful compound noun Lance Lynn used to describe the mess he left for the bullpen in the fifth inning Sunday night is not suitable for use on this site.
The veteran right-hander loves zinging fastballs from the mound and slinging other words that begin with “F†in post-game press conferences, so he was asked for an alternative to describe what the game against the Phillies looked like when he left it.
“Cluster blank,†Lynn said. “Simple.â€
Cluster for sure.
The lack of blanks was the issue.
In the fifth inning, Lynn committed one of the two errors that led to two runs for the Phillies and forced him from the game with two runners still on base. When their bullpen got involved, the Cardinals had misplayed two two-run leads to tumble into a tie game and shove Lynn from the game with at least five innings to cover. It took six. But the Cardinals’ nimble, versatile, and resolute bullpen did exactly that. What could have been a bullpen-breaking challenge against one of the NL's top lineups instead became a showcase for the Cardinals' relievers.
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Three different lefties retired Bryce Harper and the Cardinals’ bullpen pitched six shutout innings for a 5-4 victory that took 10 innings at Citizens Bank Park.
In other words, the bullpen authored a cluster of blanks.
“That’s the truth of the matter,†Lynn said. “I gave them nobody out, an absolute (fetid) mess, and we won the game. So that’s (fantastically) huge.â€
If the first two games of the series were a chance for the Phillies to show the gap between them and the Cardinals – helped Saturday by some mistakes by the visitors – then Sunday became a showcase of how the Cardinals might yet narrow it. A constant for the Cardinals when they’re not borrowing arms to make starts has been the brio of the bullpen. Ryan Helsley secured his 19th save of the season with a scoreless 10th Sunday night, and before the Cardinals have played a half of their season the right-hander has already tied his career high for saves.
The Cardinals have been able to pinpoint his usage for save situations and mostly ninth innings because all around him roles are being filled, not just by setup men JoJo Romero and Andrew Kittredge but by chase relievers John King and Ryan Fernandez or recently returned lefty Matthew Liberatore.
“For sure,†Helsley said. “I’m kind of a product of their success. I’m not me without them.â€
And they all got involved Sunday.
In a hint of how the Cardinals would attack a strong, left-leaning lineup like the Phillies in a short series should such a thing happen later, they had lefties spaced to greet Kyle Schwarber and Harper with a new look each time. They had right-handers Fernandez and Kittredge ready for the innings in between. Six relievers combined for the six shutout innings and allowed only four hits while striking out seven. They did not walk a batter.
“You’ve got some real stuff coming out of the ‘pen that allows us to shorten some ballgames,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “Covering it without allowing anything is tough.â€
In the series, the Cardinals bullpen threw 11 innings and had as many strikeouts (13) as the relievers allowed hits (13). Phillies squeaked one earned run against the bullpen.
Lynn said Sunday’s game “might have been the best I’ve felt all season.†That was undermined by errors. The Cardinals took leads on Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer and then Alec Burleson’s two-run homer. Each time the Cardinals had a lead they lost it with a rally started by an error in their infield. In the fifth, Lynn and catcher Ivan Herrera each mishandled a bunt that put the first two Phillies on base and bent the game back around to the top of the lineup.
The left-handers stacked there roped two singles off Lynn for two quick runs and a 4-4 tie. With Harper coming up for a third look at Lynn, the Cardinals had a lefty ready.
Liberatore unplugged the threat with three quick outs.
He struck out Harper on three pitches, all of them sliders, and finished his inning with a called strike 3 against the other left-handed batter he faced. Liberatore’s work in that inning set up Romero to finish the sixth and shoulder the seventh. That stashed King (2-1) for the ninth, if needed. King would be the last lefty into the game in part because the Phillies saw him Saturday night, and one of the edges Marmol and his staff wanted to play in the series was the different looks and different order of looks the lefties could throw at the Phillies.
It’s what the Phillies have done on their way to 41 wins with three lefty relievers.
“They have that setup, right?†Marmol said. “And that’s what allows them to match up pretty quick in a game, and then go back and forth. It makes it tough. You just don’t want to create lanes for it to be too easy to go through that. Having three (lefties) right now, especially against that left-handed lineup there, is helpful.â€
Said Lynn of the bullpen: “It’s shaping up real nice. There is no other way to say it. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t bring them in before the sixth or seventh inning.â€
Liberatore’s inning was the one that kept the Cardinals from falling behind.
King’s inning allowed them to pull ahead for a third time.
One of the pitchers acquired at this past season’s trade deadline as the Cardinals shed talent, King had one of his swiftest sinkers of the season Saturday with a 94 mph dart to Harper. King said that probably was a reflection of the sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park and the vigor of Philadelphia fans. King called South Philly “a cool place to pitch,†and he described how the jolt he felt entering to boos was an “excitement you try to harness a little bit.†He didn’t spend much time Sunday enjoying the crowd.
The game still tied in the ninth and the Cardinals preferring to keep Helsley out of the game until the 10th with a possible lead to secure, King got the top of the Phillies’ lineup. That included left-handed sluggers Schwarber and Harper.
King retired all three batters he faced on five pitches.
“For him to go through the meat,†Marmol said. “Big part of the game right there.â€
The scoreless ninth was followed by Gorman’s two-out, run-scoring single that set the final score. Gorman lined a pitch from lefty Gregory Soto to score Masyn Winn from third an reclaim a lead for the Cardinals for a third time. This one held. Helsley assured it.
Not one of the relievers used threw more than 20 pitches to complete their assignments, and while King appeared on back-to-back days, the efficiency of the others should leave the Cardinals less vulnerable as they open a three-game series in Houston on Monday against another team with notable left-handed threats. It, of course, would help if the starter reached deeper into the game, as Lynn noted. He inferred another “F†word for how to describe a team’s success when asking the bullpen to do too much too often.
Fleeting.
“We had a spot where we had a chance to win, and when you have a chance like that our bullpen cover those,†Lynn said. “But that’s not a recipe every night. That’s for sure.â€