"He's the Best Pitcher in Baseball" Lance Lynn Hurls Two-Hit Complete Game at Coors Field

Texas Rangers' ace Lance Lynn is exerting himself as one of the game's best pitchers after a two-hit complete game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

We're running out of excuses to not consider Lance Lynn to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. 

Facing one of the hottest teams in baseball, with the hottest hitter in baseball, in the sport's most hitter-friendly ballpark, Lance Lynn dialed up a heavy dose of four-seam fastballs, cutters, and two-seam fastballs and pitched a two-hit complete game as the Rangers beat the Rockies by a score of 3-2. He struck out only six hitters, but walked none. 

This was just the ninth time that any pitcher has allowed two or fewer hits in a nine-inning complete game at Coors Field. It's the first since Colorado's Chad Bettis on September 5, 2016 against the Giants. Lynn's two-hit complete game were the fewest hits allowed for a Ranger in a nine-inning complete game since Colby Lewis on June 16, 2016 against the Oakland A's.

Even Rangers manager Chris Woodward, usually an eloquent and lengthy speaker, was pretty quick to the point when describing Lynn's gem in Colorado.

"He threw a no-hitter after the first two hitters, that's what I can say," Woodward said.

Back in late April, I put Lance Lynn in my perfect starting rotation for 2020 throughout all of baseball. That may have sounded like a substantial reach, but Lynn is making me look like I actually know what I'm talking about.

Lynn doesn't get the recognition he deserves because he is a bit of a unicorn. He relies on a heavy dose of three types of fastballs while nearly the rest of the baseball world trends more and more towards breaking ball usage. Earlier this week, I went into more detail on why Lynn has been so successful in recent years with the fastball. 

“I’m different than everyone else and I always have been," Lynn said. "Breaking balls are the new—that’s what everybody wants—spin rate, this and that. Moving the ball to both sides of the plate, up and down, in and out, that keeps hitters uncomfortable. If that works, then I’m going to keep doing it.”

After his first five starts, Lynn is among the leaders in many statistical categories. He's also allowed four or fewer hits and two or fewer runs in all five starts in 2020. Lynn's looked like a Cy Young candidate since the get go. This time around, he didn't allow his pitch count to become as issue, which allowed him to take the ball every inning for his manager.

"In my opinion, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball, if not the best pitcher in baseball," Woodward said. "You could argue that even last year. If you take out his first two or three starts last year, when he gave up some runs, he's been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. There's a lot of numbers that prove that. I think he flies a little bit under the radar, but I don't think so anymore. I think people in the industry know how he good is."

Who knows how much longer he can continue this level of dominance on the mound. He's five starts in to a season where he'll likely see no more than 12 or 13 starts. Even approaching the halfway mark, he's showing no signs of slowing down.

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