CLEVELAND – Through his 16 years and counting in the big leagues, Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright has done just above everything and started just about anywhere, from Queens to San Diego, World Series to All-Star Game, and he’s won in 22 different ballparks, including two Atlanta has called home.
And still Tuesday was a first.
With Yadier Molina back behind the plate after missing the weekend with a stiff neck, Wainwright made his first career start in Cleveland and showed Progressive Field what they’ve been missing for more than a decade. Locked in a pitcher’s duel that didn’t open up, Wainwright pitched seven superb innings, seesawed through the Cleveland lineup with his curveball, and struck out eight.
Paul DeJong rewarded Wainwright, in his 346th career start, with the win by lofting a two-run homer high and ultimately deep enough to carry the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory in the interleague visit.
DeJong’s homer off Bryan Shaw in the seventh inning flipped the game. The Cardinals trailed, 2-1, when Matt Carpenter singled to bring up DeJong, the ninth-place hitter with the designated hitter in an American League ballpark. DeJong skied a 1-2 pitch that cleared the 19-foot wall in left field and traveled an estimated 368 feet. DeJong’s 14th homer of the season provided the run that gave so many other parts of the box score a gloss.
In addition to a solo homer for a short-lived lead, Harrison Bader had two doubles and a steal in his second consecutive three-hit game.
Alex Reyes worked a swift ninth for his 24th save.
Wainwright (8-6) asserted himself early in his Cleveland debut. He struck out two of the first four batters he faced, and he retired nine of the first 10. In the first inning, he showed Cleveland’s All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez the assortment of pitches his teammates would be facing. Wainwright started Ramirez with a curveball for a called strike. The righthander came back with a changeup that Ramirez fouled off. With two strikes on the switch-hitting infielder, Wainwright froze him with a 89.9-mph fastball.
Ramirez would not let that pitch get by again.
In the fourth inning, after a leadoff single, Ramirez tagged an 89.7-mph fastball for a two-run homer to right field that gave Cleveland the lead.
Wainwright struck out the next two batters and 11 of the next 14 to buy time for the offense beyond Bader to stir.
His first two times through the Cardinals’ order, Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill had a perfect game going against everyone not named Harrison Bader.
The Cardinals’ center fielder, on one of the hottest streaks of his career, tagged a full-count pitch for an opposite field home run to lead off the fourth inning. He pulled a double to left field with two outs in the fifth inning. The home run gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead that didn’t last. The double revealed a trend that appeared like it would last. While Bader was two-for-two against Quantrill, the rest of the lineup was zero-for-16.
The righthander struck out three of the first four batters he faced.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the rest of the Cardinals mustered some action against Quantrill, and even that fizzled fast. Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for the middle of the Cardinals’ order. Tyler O’Neill nudged a ball back to Quantrill for a forceout at the plate, and Molina flew out to left field to leave three teammates marooned and the score unbothered by the potential rally. Quantrill, however, was not. There was some concern about the righthander after he fielded the groundball.
The sixth was the last inning Quantrill work, and yielded the game after holding the Cardinals to Bader’s solo homer and three other hits in six innings.
He threw 90 pitches.
The lead he left with didn’t last another four batters.
