MILWAUKEE _ Each time the Cardinals have found themselves on the precipice of disaster this season _ returning from 17 days of quarantine, a bullpen threadbare from reach use, a losing streak _ Adam Wainwright has been the pitcher next up in the rotation.
And he has pulled them back from the brink.
Wainwright pitched his second complete game of the season and breezed through the Brewers lineup in the late innings to carry the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory Wednesday in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Miller Park. Milwaukee got a two-run homer in the first inning _ and that was it.
Only three more Brewers reached base after that. Only one of them got as far as second base, and that was a result of a walk where Wainwright may have had strike 3 on the Brewers' No. 9 hitter. That put two on with two out for the hitter with too much success against the Cardinals.
Christian Yelich came to the plate, and Wainwright was able to get the former MVP to skip into a grounder.
"There was no way I'm loading the bases right there," Wainwright said. "I'm not pitching around him. You've just got to make your pitches."
Wainwright did that relentlessly, even after the home run in the first inning by Keston Hiura. Wainwright got ahead on the next three batters 0-2. And he struck out all three. He had a better feel for his cutter in the game, and that widened the number of pitches that the Brewers had to take into account. Wainwright struck out nine, including the final two batters he faced.
The key Yelich groundout was the first of seven consecutive Brewers retired by Wainwright to complete the seven-inning game.
"Actions speak louder than words," manager Mike Shildt said. "He goes out there after a rough night and just bears down. He went out there and dominated, in complete control, in command of the strike zone. Weighs yet again to what it means to be an ace, in all caps."
The Cardinals' offense answered the Brewers in nibbles, and then took the lead with opportunity and power.
Tyler O'Neill's homer _ apparently using Dexter Fowler's bat _ cut the Brewers' lead in half in the second inning. O'Neill's sacrifice fly on an 0-2 tied the game, 2-2. In the fifth, Harrison Bader reached first on an error because his speed had the infielder rush the throw. Bader wheeled around second and took third on a groundball to the third baseman. That extra 90 feet then led to Tommy Edman's tie-breaking double.
Brad Miller's homer in the seventh _ his second extra-base hit of the game _ widened the lead for the Cardinals.
Wainwright cinched it with a perfect bottom of the seventh.
