(Tonight's lineup at bottom of this story.)

Cardinals fans won't have 40-year-old reliever Miguel Batista to kick around anymore.

Post-Dispatch baseball writer Joe Strauss reports that Batista was released today by the Cardinals, who promoted starting pitcher Lance Lynn from Class AAA Memphis in a corresponding move.

Batista contributed to the eighth-inning meltdown Tuesday night in which five Cardinals relievers allowed nine runs in a 10-2 loss to Philadelphia. He faced three batters, walking two and allowing a run-scoring hit.

Batista (3-2) was adequate as a set-up man the first two months of the season but declined rapidly in June. In seven June appearances covering seven innings total, he walked five and struck out only two while compiling an 11.74 earned-run average.

Tuesday's outing raised his season ERA from 3.68 to 4.60. For the season, he averaged 5.83 walks per nine innings and 15.43 baserunners per nine innings.

Lynn made two starts for the Cardinals earlier this month when Kyle McClellan was sidelined and went 1.1 with a 5.23 earned-run average.

In 12 starts at Memphis this season, Lynn was 7-3 with a 3.84 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 75 innings.