ST. LOUIS -- With the Trade Deadline less than a week away, the uniform Lance Lynn could be wearing his next time out remains up in the air. But what is increasingly clear is that the Cardinals right-hander has made quite a case for himself over the past few weeks.
Lynn (8-6, 3.21 ERA) continued his dominant streak Tuesday night in the Cardinals' 3-2 victory over the Rockies. He is 2-0 with an 0.71 ERA (25 1/3 innings) in his last four starts. Against a Colorado team that averaged more than 10 runs per game the week prior, Lynn gave up just one run on three hits and struck out six.
"He was tough," Rockies shortstop Trevor Story said. "He mixed his speeds, in and out -- he was locating pretty well. That makes it tough. He did a good job."
In Lynn's team-leading 21st start of the season, he lasted six-plus innings and threw 94 pitches (58 strikes). Lynn has come a long way since giving up seven runs in back-to-back games in June, which inflated his ERA and continues to frustrate him. Despite the inefficiency showing up from time to time, he has exhibited improvement in the last month. His two walks to the Rockies were the most he's allowed since June 24.
"He's getting lots of foul balls this year that are running his counts a little deeper and making it not look like he's as efficient as he's been," Matheny said. "He's been attacking the strike zone, I thought he had good sink today, I thought he did a very good job of using the slower breaking ball.
"Overall I thought he did very good and controlled most of the bottom of the zone with the fastball and a lot of downward movement."

With Lynn scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season, discussion of the Cardinals' trade possibilities have focused in on Lynn. While it has not been determined if Lynn will make another start with St. Louis, his recent performance has put him as one of the top pitchers in Cardinals' rotation.
"I can't say enough about our starting pitching," Matheny said. "When you talk about being able to hold down a good offense like [the Rockies], you talk about your starter having to almost go through this lineup three times, and [I'm] just really impressed with how our guys are going about their business."
With the non-waiver Trade Deadline looming on Monday, Lynn now waits to see if he will make another start for St. Louis.
"It was a good win," Lynn said. "A good team win."