CHICAGO _ With the exception of two swings that may have cost him the chance to get the final two outs of Saturday's Game 1 at Wrigley Field, Adam Wainwright was every bit of the starter he said he would be to send a message to the rotation around him.
Hours after the Cardinals revealed that Kwang Hyun Kim was in the hospital with a kidney ailment and the a sudden rewrite of pitching assignments would be necessary, Wainwright handled 6 1/3 innings to allow the Cardinals to brace their bullpen for Game 2.
With a little help from the Cubs, the Cardinals won Game 1, 4-2.
For the first time in his career Wainwright has started a season 4-0.
The two runs Wainwright allowed came on two solo homers by Ian Happ, the Cubs' leadoff hitter. He started the game with a leadoff homer, and he hit one in the fifth inning.
Between those two blasts, Wainwright bought time for his teammates to overtake the Cubs' early lead and build one for Giovanny Gallegos to cinch for the save.
Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay pitched himself into trouble in the third inning, but not before his infielders put him there first. What would have been an inning-ending double play glanced in and out of first baseman Anthony Rizzo's glove. That allowed the tying run to score, and kept the inning going for young Alzolay. He walked the next two batters, including Matt Carpenter with the bases loaded to force home the tiebreaking run.
In the fourth inning, a bit of snazzy baserunning by Kolten Wong put him in position to score his second run of the game.
He took second on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Edman. Wong scored on Paul DeJong's two-out, two-strike RBI single for the Cardinals' fourth run.
In the bottom of the seventh, an error at third base by Edman put the tying run on base against Gallegos. The right-hander struck out Rizzo for his third save.
Wainwright allowed the two homers and two runs in his 6 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out six.
The Cardinals placed Kim on the injured list before Saturday's doubleheader.
On Friday morning, Kim experienced acute abdominal pain on his right side and was sent immediately to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with a kidney ailment and remained through Saturday afternoon. The specific diagnosis was renal infarction, the Cardinals said.
Kim was released from the hospital shortly before 3 p.m. Chicago time, according to the Cardinals. He will return to St. Louis on Sunday. John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, said Kim is feeling better Saturday.
Kim was scheduled to start Sunday's night game at Wrigley Field, and that was going to allow the Cardinals to stack Wainwright and Dakota Hudson for Saturday's doubleheader. Kim's absence will force a rewrite of the rotation.
Hudson will start Sunday's game.
The Cardinals will have a bullpen day for Game 2 on Saturday.
