Daniel Lynch’s night derailed by cut on his throwing hand as Kansas City Royals lose
Daniel Lynch’s slider has been a significant problem for opposing hitters since he returned to the majors from Triple-A. But that pitch led to problems and a short outing for the Kansas City Royals’ rookie left-hander on Saturday night.
A cut on Lynch’s index finger wreaked havoc with his ability to command that crucial piece of his pitching repertoire against one of the most dangerous lineups in the majors in the AL Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox.
Lynch (4-4) turned in his shortest outing since he’d been recalled to the majors on July 25. He needed 65 pitches to get through 2 2/3 innings, and he allowed six runs on five hits (two homers) and three walks. The Royals lost the game 10-7 at Kauffman Stadium.
“Just the way I grip my slider, I have my index finger resting against the ball,” Lynch said. “For some reason, tonight it was just sort of ripping into my finger. It was cut, and it was just bleeding out and getting onto the back of my finger. I didn’t really feel it until the second inning.”
Lynch said he hasn’t had any history of blisters or past issues with the finger. He’s usually built up a callous on that finger.
Saturday night, the issue became one where the blood was making his finger wet and his pitches were slipping out of his hand.
Lynch gave up two hits in the first inning, both traveled more than 400 feet and went over the center-field fence for home runs. He gave up a solo blast of 452 feet to Luis Robert, the second batter he faced, on a fastball left up and over the inner half of the plate.
With two outs following a four-pitch walk to Jose Abreu, Lynch saw White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal send a 3-2 fastball 425 feet to center field for a two-run home run as the White Sox claimed a 3-0 lead before a Royals player had taken an at-bat.
The White Sox entered the night having hit 91 home runs in 57 games since June 30, the most in the majors.
Lynch had what looked like a strong bounce-back inning in the second when he retired the side in order and recorded a pair of strikeouts, one on a called third strike via the fastball and the other on a swing and miss via the slider.
“I was ready to go out there and grind,” Lynch said. “Giving up three in the first, you’ve kind of got to switch your mindset to OK, this is going to be a battle.; I really felt like I could go out there and not give up any more runs and still give us a chance to win.
“The way Salvy hit the ball and the way our offense went, had I been able to hang on we would have had a good shot to win the game. That was my mindset. Once the slider came more into play in the third inning, it obviously didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”
The third inning went very differently for Lynch.
The first four batters of the inning reached base. After back-to-back singles by Robert and Abreu, Eloy Jimenez drew a walk. However, both runners were running on ball four. Catcher Cam Gallagher threw down to third and threw wildly, the ball veering into left field. Robert scored on the throwing error, and Abreu advanced to third.
Immediately after the walk, Lynch received a visit from Royals manager Mike Matheny and head trainer Nick Kenney. Matheny said the cut wasn’t allowing Lynch to finish his fastball the way he typically would as well as creating problems with his slider.
“Velocity was down a little bit,” Matheny said. “He was shying away from the breaking ball a little bit. Mostly, it was how he was reacting. I was watching. You could tell it was a concern. It was something that just didn’t feel right. We need our hand to feel right in order to make quality pitches. He was trying to get through it, and it just wasn’t going to go. So it was best to get him out.”
With runners on the corners, Grandal hit an RBI single up the middle. Lynch got back-to-back flyouts after the Grandal hit. But Jimenez advanced to third on the first fly ball to center field and scored on a sacrifice fly to left that gave the White Sox a 6-0 lead in the third.
Matheny called upon veteran right-hander Ervin Santana to finish the third inning.
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 11:26 PM.
