ST. LOUIS — Into the breach of injured Cardinals starters and tired relievers Monday night marched Adam Wainwright, two months short of 41 years. The 17-season veteran knew he was going to be on the mound for six or seven innings, for 100 or so pitches, no matter the score.
As long as he was going to be out there that long, Wainwright surely must have determined that there was no reason for the Miami Marlins to score.
Wainwright scattered seven hits over the first five innings. He also struck out seven in that time. Then he put the hammer down, retiring the final seven men he faced, By the time his night’s work was done after seven innings, Wainwright had a seven-run lead--and nine strikeouts.
When the Cardinals' 9-0 victory was complete, Wainwright, who had 101 pitches finally had career win No. 190 after five futile stabs at it. Charleston, Missouri native James Naile made his big-league debut at age 29 and worked a scoreless eighth, finishing it off with a double-play grounder to vacuum cleaner third baseman Nolan Arenado.
Three into two for Yepez
Rookie Juan Yepez, serving as the designated hitter for the second game in succession, homered for the second game in succession. In fact, he had two homers in this one.
His fourth-inning drive meant three runs.
Paul Goldschmidt singled for his second hit of the game to open the inning. After Arenado popped up, Nolan Gorman stopped a nothing-for-16 slide with a single.
Dylan Carlson hit a long foul to right before striking out. But Yepez didn’t let starter Pablo Lopez get away, drilling one off the Big Mac Land sign in front of the third deck.
Yepez, however, was not done. Facing left-hander Richard Bleier in the seventh with Carlson at second with a double, Yepez rocketed a 402-foot, two-run homer to left for his ninth home run of the season.
The multi-homer game was the first of Yepez’s big-league career and his five runs batted in were a season high for the Cardinals.
Cardinals’ first baseman is good as gold
Not only was Goldschmidt announced Monday as the leader at first base in the National League All-Star voting, but he also leads the league in hitting at .347 after a four-hit night. And now he has 19 home runs, after a 402-foot shot to left off Lopez in the first inning.
It was the first run the Cardinals had scored on Lopez this year. The right-hander blanked them on three hits over seven innings, striking out nine, on April 21 in Miami.
Goldschmidt stroked his third hit in the fifth. He smacked a double off the right-field wall to score Tommy Edman to run the Cardinals’ lead to 5-0.
Herrera catches top base stealer in league
Miami second baseman Jon Berti, who hasn’t been thrown out in 22 steal attempts this season as the league’s top thief, stole second against rookie catcher Ivan Herrera in the third inning. Berti then tried to advance to third on a short wild pitch. He initially was called safe by third-base umpire Erich Bacchus but Berti appeared briefly to come off the bag and third baseman Arenado, after taking Herrera’s strong throw, held the tag.
The Cardinals challenged and the call was overturned. This did not count as a caught stealing but a threat was abated.
