In this 2020 MLB season sim, Jordan Luplow takes all the air out of Lance Lynn’s no-hit bid
In the midst of a crushing month-long team slump, Lance Lynn almost gave the Texas Rangers reason to celebrate Friday. Then fate intervened against the Rangers again.
Lynn came within two outs of the simulated 2020 season’s third no-hitter Friday night in Arlington. Then with one out in the ninth, Cleveland pinch hitter Jordan Luplow flared a low-outside fastball just beyond the reach of second baseman Rougned Odor for a bloop single.
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The Rangers still won 2-0, and Lynn still picked up his eighth victory against six losses. The letdown, however, was palpable.
Palpable but not surprising. As recently as May 22, the Rangers were five games over .500 and in second place in the AL West, six games off Houston’s pace.
The two defeats they took in three-weekend games with the Indians dropped their record to 5-16 since then, costing Texas ten and one-half games in the standings.
Lynn, obviously, was brilliant. Aside from Luplow’s flare, he allowed only walks to Carlos Santana and Cesar Hernandez. He struck out a dozen. The Rangers only netted four hits off Shane Bieber, 7-3 but two of them were home runs by Todd Frazier and Willie Calhoun.
These days, however, it takes a borderline no-hitter for the Rangers to prevail. They followed up that decision with a 6-3 Saturday loss and fell 10-5 Sunday, Hernandez driving in three of Cleveland’s runs. Texas never led for one moment in either of those games.
In other weekend AL games, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox renewed their rivalry at Fenway Park, Boston taking two of the three games. The Toronto Blue Jays failed to take advantage, losing two of three to the Tigers in Detroit. Tampa Bay beat the Baltimore Orioles two of three.
The Minnesota Twins beat Kansas City two of three at Kauffman Stadium to keep pace with Cleveland, and the Houston Astros took two of three from the Chicago White Sox at Minute Maid. The Los Angeles Angels took two of three games from the Seattle Mariners.
In the weekend’s only inter-league series, the Oakland Athletics won two of three games from the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia.