ST. LOUIS — In his 17th season with the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright scratched another team off his list Sunday. Facing the Minnesota Twins for only the second time in his career and first in more than 12 years, Wainwright posted a 7-3 victory, his first over the Twins, giving him 26 big-league teams he has conquered.
Only Baltimore, the New York Yankees and Texas (and, of course, the Cardinals) ave not been decisioned by Wainwright, who has 176 career wins. And, for one of the few times this season, the former Silver Slugger winner who is hitting only .029, was able to help himself at bat. That he hadn’t done more at the plate this year had been maddening to him.
Wainwright’s sacrifice helped set up a three-run second inning. And his 10-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning, with the crowd roaring on every foul ball, resulted in a smash to third baseman Luis Arraez, who made a good stop but then threw low to first as the Cardinals scored another run.
The Cardinals took two of three from Minnesota, marking their fourth consecutive series win at home and they moved one win past .500 at 53-52 but remained 9 ½ games behind first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central Division. They had to come from an early 2-0 deficit to do it.
After the Twins’ Mitch Garver singled to center and Miguel Sano doubled to left center to start the Twins’ second, Wainwright struck out Trevor Larnach. This brought up No. 8 hitter Andrelton Simmons, who had had four hits in the series, with pitcher Michael Pineda due up next.
The Cardinals chose to pitch to Simmons, who looped a single to center, scoring both runners as center fielder Harrison Bader did not offer to fire home to try to nail the 272-pound (maybe) Sano after Bader had air-mailed a couple of throws home in previous games.
With runners at second and third, the Cardinals had their infield in for Simmons. Another option would have been intentionally to walk Simmons to load the bases for the .000-hitting Pineda, who wound up tapping into a nifty double play started by third baseman Nolan Arenado.
If Pineda, say, had only struck out after an intentional walk, that would have left it to lefthanded-hitting Max Kepler with the bases loaded. Kepler had been nothing for seven with five strikeouts in the series.
But the Cardinals caught up in the third. Edmundo Sosa who homered and had two singles, singled to left center and Wainwright got down the first two of his sacrifice bunts. Dylan Carlson blooped a double in front of left fielder Brent Rooker, scoring Sosa.
Carlson came home on a single by Paul Goldschmidt, who stole second to give the Cardinals a further chance was stranded.
Wainwright retired seven hitters in succession from the second through the fourth, abetted by Bader’s diving catch off Louis Arraez in the third.
Tommy Edman doubled with two outs in the Cardinals' fourth and Sosa was walked intentionally. On the 10th pitch to him, Wainwright scorched his grounder to Arraez, who smothered it but fired a one-hopper to first where Sano couldn't make the pickup.
Righthander John Gant, just traded by the Cardinals to the Twins on Friday, retired the first two men he faced in relief in the home fifth but then allowed singles to Tyler O’Neill and Yadier Molina, with Molina’s hit moving him past former teammate Albert Pujols into fourth on the all-time Cardinals hit list at 2,074.
Stan Musial, of course, tops the list at 3,630, followed by Lou Brock (2,713) and Rogers Hornsby, who is only 35 ahead of Molina after the catcher singled again in the seventh.
Molina and Wainwright were forming a battery for the 294th time in their career. And the soon-to-be-40 Wainwright took another start through at least six innings, giving him 14 such starts out of 21 this season.
The only previous time Wainwright had faced the Twins was on June 26, 2009 here in a 3-1 loss. Not surprisingly, the only other person remaining from that box score was Cardinals catcher Molina.
Jorge Polanco, who had six hits in the series, cracked his 16th homer in the sixth to cut the lead back to one run at 4-3.
But Edman’s second double and Sosa’s second single restored the two-run edge at 5-3 in the Cardinals’ sixth.
Sosa crushed his third homer of the season in a two-run eighth, which also featured Dylan Carlson's second double and a sacrifice fly by Goldschmidt.
