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SAN FRANCISCO - If beating the San Francisco Giants has to be a painful experience, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn is just fine with it. Lynn beat the Giants in a regular-season game for the first time in his career Saturday afternoon, shutting out the defending World Series champions on six hits before spraining his right ankle in the eighth inning of the Cardinals' 6-0 victory.
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"It didn't feel good at the beginning," Lynn said of the injury. "It doesn't feel great right now, either, but there's not a ton of swelling, I hear that's a good thing."
First baseman Brandon Moss ignited a four-run fifth inning with a leadoff triple and catcher Yadier Molina capped the uprising with a two-RBI single as the Cardinals evened their three-game series with the Giants after suffering a 5-4 loss Friday.
A sixth win in seven games allowed St. Louis (83-46) temporarily to increase its lead in the National League Central to four games over the Pittsburgh Pirates (78-49), who played a night game at home against Colorado.
The loss dropped the Giants (69-60) three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (71-56) in the NL West, pending the Dodgers' night matchup with the Chicago Cubs.
"The Cardinals are a tough team," Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelsong said. "You have to be pretty close to perfect to beat them. I was just OK today."
Lynn compiled a 6.33 ERA while losing his first four career starts against San Francisco, including a 2-0 setback at the hands of Vogelsong and the Giants when the clubs met earlier this month in St. Louis.
But it was Lynn (11-8) who pitched the shutout ball this time around, allowing only two Giants to advance into scoring position in his seven-plus innings.
He walked two and struck out two.
"You have your teams that are nemeses," Lynn said of finally beating the Giants. "(The losing streak) was last year and the year before. This year it's not been the case."
The injury occurred when Giants pinch-hitter Juan Perez led off the eighth inning with a dribbler to the right of the mound. Lynn fielded the ball at the bottom of the hill, but turned his right ankle as he pivoted before making a throw.
He was able to walk off under his own power after spending a few minutes on the grass while being examined by the St. Louis trainer. The Cardinals later labeled the injury minor.
"(I was) just sick when you see him go down like that because he's a tough guy," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "At first I thought it was (his) knee, too, so once I saw him starting to move around a little bit, I never thought he was going to be walking off the field. That was huge.
"He's in there joking around about his non-athleticism right now. Good to hear. We don't know what that means except it's not a lot of the worst-case scenarios that were going through our minds."
No X-rays were scheduled.
The St. Louis bullpen picked up the starter, with left-hander Randy Choate and righties Seth Maness and Sam Tuivailala combining for two innings of one-hit ball.
Vogelsong (9-10), who limited the Cardinals to two hits over six innings when he faced them Aug. 18, matched shutout innings with Lynn until the fateful fifth.
Moss led off the inning with a triple, and scored when third baseman Matt Carpenter's one-hopper eluded Giants second baseman Kelby Tomlinson, who was playing up in an attempt to cut off the run. Carpenter was credited with a hit.
"A run's critical at that point," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of playing the infield in that early in the game. "That's the danger of doing that - you could open up a big inning.
"You look at the game. We didn't score, so that was a pretty big run. (Buster) Posey not in the lineup, the way Lynn was pitching ... I kinda knew we'd be challenged to get enough runs. I didn't want to give up a run at that point."
Posey sat out with a bruised left elbow, the product of having gotten hit by a Michael Wacha fastball Friday.
After Carpenter's shutout-ender, rookie left fielder Stephen Piscotty's second of his career-high four hits put two Cardinals aboard, and both moved up a base on shortstop Jhonny Peralta's infield out.
The Giants elected to pitch around Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward, walking him on four pitches to load the bases, before reliever George Kontos uncorked a wild pitch that scored Carpenter to make it 2-0.
Molina followed with a line-drive two-run single to make it a four-run inning.
Vogelsong was charged with all four Cardinals runs. He gave up seven hits and three walks in his 4 2/3 innings, striking out three.
"They put good at-bats on you. They make you work hard," Vogelsong said. "I felt I threw the ball pretty well. It didn't work out."
The Cardinals added two insurance runs off the fourth Giants pitcher, Mike Broadway, in the ninth on an RBI triple by Piscotty that scored Carpenter, who had doubled, and a two-out single by Heyward.
Carpenter, Heyward, Molina and second baseman Kolten Wong had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who outhit the Giants 13-7.
The win was the Cardinals' sixth in nine contests on their 10-game Western swing.
San Francisco center fielder Gregor Blanco recorded two singles and shortstop Ehire Adrianza had the Giants' only extra-base hit of the game - a fifth-inning double.
The Giants' loss snapped a three-game win streak.
NOTES: Cardinals LF Stephen Piscotty extended his hitting streak to six games, during which he's gone 12-for-24 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. ... Cardinals SS Jhonny Peralta grounded into three double plays, only the third player to suffer the fate this season. ... Giants C Buster Posey vowed to be back in the lineup for Sunday's series finale. ... The 2014 National League Championship Series rematch pitted starting pitchers who have suffered from a lack of offensive support this season. The Cardinals averaged 3.14 runs - fifth-lowest in the NL - in RHP Lance Lynn's first 24 starts. Giants RHP Ryan Vogelsong, meanwhile, has received a total of six runs of support during his last seven outings. ... Cardinals RHP Trevor Rosenthal witnessed the birth of his second daughter, Adalyn, during Friday's game. The closer will rejoin the team Monday for the start of a nine-game homestand.
Vogelsong was charged with all four Cardinals runs. He gave up seven hits and three walks in his 4 2/3 innings, striking out three.
The Cardinals added two insurance runs off the fourth Giants pitcher, Mike Broadway, in the ninth on an RBI triple by Piscotty that scored Carpenter, who had doubled, and a two-out single by Heyward.
Carpenter, Heyward, Molina and second baseman Kolten Wong had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who outhit the Giants 13-7.
The win was the Cardinals' sixth in nine games on their 10-game Western swing.
San Francisco center fielder Gregor Blanco recorded two singles and shortstop Ehire Adrianza had the Giants' only extra-base hit of the game - a fifth-inning double.
The Giants' loss snapped a three-game win streak.
NOTES: Giants C Buster Posey was not in the starting lineup after he was hit on the left elbow with a fastball from RHP Michael Wacha on Friday. Posey vowed to be back in the lineup for Sunday's series finale. ... The game was the Giants' 22nd straight against an opponent over .500. ... The 2014 National League Championship Series rematch pitted starting pitchers who have suffered from a lack of offensive support this season. The Cardinals averaged 3.14 runs - fifth-lowest in the NL - in RHP Lance Lynn's first 24 starts. Giants RHP Ryan Vogelsong, meanwhile, received a total of six runs of support during his previous six outings. ... Cardinals RHP Trevor Rosenthal witnessed the birth of his second daughter, Adalyn, during Friday's game. The closer will rejoin the team Monday for the start of a nine-game homestand.
