Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn did not have a strong outing in his start against the Pirates on Friday. Lynn allowed five runs on nine hits over four innings. He walked one and struck out five, en route to the 5-2 loss.
Lynn (6-5) was down early when he allowed a first-inning run. Then, after the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead, Lynn gave the lead right back with two more runs allowed in the bottom half of the inning. To compound matters, Lynn then gave up a two-run home run to Neil Walker in the fifth, and the Cardinals were unable to recover.
"When you're behind in counts and you're throwing the ball over the middle of the plate, you're going to get beat, especially against this team, a good fastball-hitting team," Lynn said, per MLB.com.
The five runs allowed was the most for Lynn since he allowed five on May 22, and the four innings makes this his shortest outing of the year. He still exits the first half of the season with a very fine 2.90 ERA.