Lance Lynn is the Sox' dominant, reliable ‘a–h—‘

Lance Lynn has no intention to sugarcoat what it's like for opposing hitters to face him.

"I've always been an a--h---."

The Chicago White Sox veteran, a hired gun brought in to help this team win the World Series, is pitching as good as advertised.

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And he's dominating the opposition while doing it.

Monday, he turned in another stellar performance, this one against his former team, limiting the St. Louis Cardinals to one run and just three hits in seven innings of work. His ERA on the season is down to a pencil-thin 1.51.

This is what the White Sox envisioned when they decided to part ways with the promising young career of Dane Dunning back in December: a reliable presence on the mound, one of the best pitchers in baseball and someone they could count on every fifth day to get them a win or a give them a darn good chance to get a win.

After the team had no one to turn to in the third game of their playoff series last fall, this was the kind of solution they needed. And they've got it, big time.

"As good a competitor as there is in the major leagues right now," White Sox manager Tony La Russa said of his pitcher. "He competes, and it’s not just his head, it’s his heart, guts. And when you’ve got that stuff and you compete? He wants to get guys out and give his team a chance to win."

What's obvious, other than that the last two seasons in Texas were no fluke, is that Lynn is having one heck of a positive impact on this White Sox team. He's setting an example for the rest of the starting rotation, and he's giving the team's offense the assurance and the confidence it needs to get the job done in games he's pitching.

Lynn had a no-hitter through five innings Monday. But with the White Sox bats equally flummoxed by Cardinals starter Kwang Hyun Kim, it was a scoreless tie after five. Lynn walked the leadoff man in the sixth, the runner ending up on third with one out. Lynn gave up a rapped single underneath a drawn-in Tim Anderson, and the Cardinals took the lead. From no-hitter to losing in a blink.

But Lynn didn't waver from there, and with the big guy on the mound, neither did the White Sox. Andrew Vaughn hit a game-flipping homer as part of a defining four-run bottom of the inning, and the White Sox rolled to a 5-1 victory from there.

"It's actually unbelievable watching him go out. It's so impressive," Vaughn said of Lynn. "He's a guy that just grips it and rips it, and he just goes after guys. It's so — I don't even know how to explain it — it's like bulldog. He just gets in there and he fights his way, no matter what. ... And I think it gives our lineup a little bit of juice.

"Even though he had a no-hitter going (through) the fifth and we gave up that first hit, kind of everybody in the crowd lulled, but we knew Lance was going to stay in it and keep us in that game."

A bulldog. An a--h---. It's all the same to Lynn.

"When you're growing up, when you're coming up in the game, it's, 'Oh, he's got a bad attitude, this and that,'" he said. "And when you get older and start pitching better, 'He's a bulldog.' So, just be a bulldog, I guess."

The impact Lynn's had on these White Sox, the glowing reviews from his manager and teammates. It can make you question how much an a--h--- he truly is.

But the emotion Lynn takes to the mound had a little bit extra Monday.

Lynn spent the first six seasons and seven years of his big league career playing for the Cardinals. And while all the focus Monday was on La Russa managing against his old team for the first time, Lynn was throwing against his old team for just the second time. The first time out, in 2018, he lasted just three innings and took the loss.

Not so Monday. And it felt really, really good.

"I'm not going to lie to you, that was probably the most satisfying win I've ever had in my career, not counting the playoffs. I enjoyed it quite a bit, beating them," Lynn said. "It's one of the teams I (did) not have a major league win against, and now I do. And I definitely enjoy it."

Asked what the mix of emotions he was competing with was, he maybe lent some credence to that whole a--h--- thing.

"Prove it. Hatefulness. A little bit everything."

The most satisfying regular-season win he's ever had. Impressive. But of course, Lynn's in a White Sox uniform for some more satisfaction, specifically satisfaction of the postseason variety. And it's nights like Monday that make you realize how possible it is he can provide it.

With how reliable he's been, "possible" might be putting it lightly.

"I'm just going out and, every five days in between starts, doing everything I can to help the team win and talking to guys and talking pitching and doing things like that. That's all I know," Lynn said. "It seems to be that everybody, especially in the starting rotation, is gravitating toward it, and relievers, too, are enjoying it. And we're having a good time with it, and that's what it's all about."

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