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St. Cardinals backstop Willson Contreras came to the aid of his teammate Lance Lynn to help procure his 2000th strikeout ball from a Pirates fan at PNC Park on Tuesday. After the historic strikeout in Lance's career, Contreras threw the ball into the stands as the inning got over, not realizing the importance of that baseball in that instance.
It was only after he came back to the dugout that he realized he had to reclaim that ball for the Cardinals starting pitcher. Therefore, in a startling trade with the Pirates fan, who sat behind the home plate and right above the visiting dugout, Willson Contreras gave his bat to the fan in exchange for Lance Lynn's 2000th strikeout ball.
The crowd inside PNC Park appreciated and applauded Willson Contreras' gesture. Take a look at the video showcasing the trade between the catcher and the spectator here:
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Lance Lynn pitched five scoreless innings against the Pirates in game 2 of the three-game series, thereby helping his team to stay in the tight contest. He gave up four hits, walked three batters, and struck out two to reach the historic mark of 2000 strikeouts in his big league career.
The veteran starting pitcher worked well with Willson Contreras, as the catcher's signals were spot on throughout the game, which helped the Cardinals win the contest 2-1 and tie the series at one game apiece on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Cardinals ace Lance Lynn became the sixth active pitcher to achieve this feat in the MLB
Lance Lynn joins an elite group of pitchers in the Major League after raking in his 2000th strikeout in the big leagues. He entered the game with 1,998 strikeouts and managed to strike out two batters to reach the historic milestone.
He is the 89th pitcher overall to achieve this feat and the sixth among an elite list of active pitchers in the MLB. Besides Lynn, that active list includes the likes of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, and Gerrit Cole.
Reflecting on his historic feat, Lynn said:
“To be able to do it [with] St. Louis, it was cool. There’s no other way to say it.”
Lance will make his next start against the Texas Rangers at Busch Stadium on July 30.
