What happened at the mound Sunday that kept Lynn in meaningless Rangers spring game?
Lance Lynn issued his second walk of the game with two outs in the third inning Sunday, and Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward popped out of the dugout.
It’s spring training, so the assumption was that Lynn had hit his pitch count and was done. The pitcher warming in the Rangers’ bullpen, Jesse Chavez, thought that was the case and started running from the bullpen.
But Woodward turned around and left after a brief chat and so did Chavez. Lynn wasn’t going anywhere.
The right-hander didn’t get out of the third, allowing a two-run double to Alex Verdugo, but the extra batter said a lot about who Lynn is as a pitcher. He wants the ball and he wants the innings.
“I think he know that I wanted one more, especially since Verdugo got a hit in the second innings,” Lynn said. “I didn’t want to come out when he took me out then. If I start any inning I want to finish it. That’s just the way I’m built. I don’t want anyone else cleaning up my mess.”
Woodward said that the decision to leave Lynn in was his first test as manager. Lynn was at his pitch count, but he hadn’t given up any solid contact.
Woodward gave Lynn another batter, but isn’t sure he will be so understanding in the regular season. Lynn, though, might be the exception.
“During the season, I wouldn’t say I’m going to do that every time, but I want to know how he feels,” Woodward said. “He’s, obviously, a bulldog. He wants the ball, which I love. You want him to stay in the game. Hopefully he’ll respect the position I’m in.”
Lynn struck out the side in the first, allowed a run in the second and nearly wiggled out of the third without any damage. Chavez entered after Verdugo’s double and allowed a two-run single to put the Rangers in a 5-3 hole and leave a mark on Lynn’s initial Cactus League line.
“Get all of those out of the way now,” Lynn said.
He didn’t care for his fastball command, though he used the heater to help pile up five strikeouts. The two walks he issued and the deep counts to other batters gave him things to work on before his next outing.
And Lynn will work, hopefully 33 times over 200 innings during the regular season.
“If you ask any starting pitcher, your goal is every year to make every start and throw as many innings as possible,” Lynn said. “As baseball as changed a little bit you’re not going to get as many opportunities to pitch deep into games, but the deeper your starting rotation goes, the better your bullpen is going to be.”
Woodward said that a pitcher like Lynn is a rare commodity these days.
“Not to many guys have that. Not too many teams have that,” Woodward said. “To have a guy that’s capable of doing it and has done that in the past is a tremendous asset. It’s pretty coveted nowadays.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2019 at 4:31 PM.
