Lyons puts thrashing in rearview
‘Demoted’ after a bad outing for Cards, on his game for ’Birds
Last Friday night, while starting for St. Louis, Tyler Lyons couldn’t make it out of the second inning against the Texas Rangers.
The 25-year- old lefthander was promptly sent down to Memphis. On Tuesday night against the Iowa Cubs, Lyons could’ve pitched all night, as he was nearly unhittable. Lyons allowed only a first-inning single before retiring the last 18 batters he faced as the Redbirds beat the Cubs, 7- 0, at AutoZone Park.
“I was able to command the fastball and get ahead in counts, control the counts,” Lyons said. “That’s kind of been what makes me have good outings or have bad outings. It was the thing that I wanted to go out and do tonight.”
After Iowa’s Jae-Hoon Ha lined a single to left with one out in the first, Lyons got Donnie Murphy to fly out, then picked Ha off at first.
From there, he mowed down batter after batter. In seven innings, Lyons only threw 71 pitches, 41 of which were strikes. He struck out four Cubs without walking any.
“That’s exactly what we needed after scoring six in the first,” Redbirds manager Pop Warner said. “He came back out and pounded the strike zone and didn’t walk anybody. That was impressive. That’s what he does, he throws a lot of strikes. He could’ve pitched nine innings, but he was going on short rest.”
Lyons wasn’t exactly eager to get back to Memphis after making six starts in his first stint with the Cardinals. During his stay in the big leagues, Lyons was 2-3 with a 5.51 ERA.
Lyons won his first two starts, then lost three straight before Friday’s performance. He plans to take advantage of his time with the Redbirds with hopes of getting back to St. Louis.
“Obviously, nobody wants to get sent back down,” he said. “But for me it was a perfect opportunity to get back on track and get out of my own head and relax and get some work in. I was able to do that tonight. I didn’t want to get sent back down but you’ve got to make the most out of it every time.”
His job Tuesday was made a little easier when the Redbirds staked him to a 6-0 first-inning lead. The Redbirds sent 11 batters to plate as they chased Iowa starter Yoanner Negrin from the mound before he could record the third out.
Adron Chambers paved the way with a leadoff triple, scored, then later had a two-out, two-run single to cap the scoring in the inning. After picking up four hits in the first, the Redbirds only had three more the rest of the way, but one was a solo homer from Jamie Romak, his 16th of the season.
Relievers Mitchell Boggs and Deryk Hooker, making his Redbirds’ debut after being called up from Double A Springfield Monday, pitched the final two innings without allowing a hit.
The combined onehitter was the fifth in club history and first since a 1- 0 win over Sacramento in 2007 at AutoZone Park.
The Redbirds took three of four from the Cubs in the series to move into a first-place tie with Iowa in the Pacific Coast League’s American Northern Division. They will enjoy an off-day Wednesday before returning to action Thursday to host Albuquerque in a four-game series.