ST. LOUIS — As Cardinals linchpins Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina march inexorably toward the all-time record for starts made by one major league battery, Paul Goldschmidt marches to. . . . well, we don’t exactly know yet.
Wainwright and Molina celebrated their 314th start, 10 shy of the Mickey Lolich-Bill Freehan record set with Detroit, with Wainwright blanking the San Diego Padres on two hits and fanning 10 in seven innings Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. That Wainwright would stymie the Padres here should be no surprise. He is 6-0 with a 1.64 earned run average against Padres at Busch and hasn’t given up a home run here to San Diego in 65 2/3 innings.
Goldschmidt bumped up to his hitting streak to 22 games with a third-inning double that knocked in the first Cardinals run before he scored the other on a sacrifice fly.
There was one flaw in this masterpiece. Giovanny Gallegos surrendered a two-run, game-tying homer to Trent Grisham in the eighth. Bute all still was golden for the Cardinals. After an intentional walk to Goldschmidt in the 10th, "ghost runner" Tommy Edman stole third with one out and Albert Pujols, on an 0-2 pitch, delivered his second sacrifice fly of the night for a 3-2 Cardinals victory.
In the second inning, Goldschmidt had moved his on-base streak to 36 consecutive games with a first-inning walk and he had raced to third on a bloop single by Nolan Arenado, who halted a nothing-for-17 skid.
But San Diego lefthander Blake Snell, making just his third start after suffering a left adductor strain, fanned both Pujols and Juan Yepez.
Wainwright allowed a single to former Cardinal Luke Voit and walked Ha-Seong Kim in the second. But shortstop Edmundo Sosa fought off a tough hop on Jorge Alfaro’s smash and recovered to throw out Alfaro by half a step to end the inning.
Wainwright, keeping the Padres off balance with his fastball, fanned five in the first three innings, including called third strikes on fastballs to Trent Grisham and Jurickson Profar in the third. It did take him 57 pitches to complete three scoreless innings, however.
After Brendan Donovan coaxed a walk to open the third, Edman struck out but Goldschmidt, who had 33 runs batted in for May, doubled into the right-center-field gap with Donovan sprinting home from first.
Goldschmidt went to third on a Snell wild pitch and, after Arenado walked, a Pujols sacrifice fly delivered Goldschmidt with the second run.
Second baseman Edman helped defensively, bouncing off the screen in front of the right-field box seats to snare Jake Cronenworth’s foul fly to open the fourth. Center fielder Harrison Bader ran down Kim’s liner to left center for the second out of the fifth. With those in hand, Wainwright reeled off perfect innings in the third through the sixth and retired 14 men in a row at one point.
He didn’t need any help in the sixth, though, posting his seventh, eighth and ninth strikeouts in rapid-fire order. Manny Machado, the last victim, bounced his bat and his helmet and, soon enough he was bounced by umpire Chris Segal. Manager Bob Melvin soon joined him in the clubhouse as he was run, too.
After Voit singled again in the seventh, Wainwright received a mound visit from pitching coach Mike Maddux. He then recorded his 10th strikeout, fourth on called third strike fastball, before getting Roberto Cano on a grounder to second on Wainwright’s 115th and final pitch.
This was Wainwright's 13th double-digit strikeout game of his career, thing him with Steve Carlton for third on the Cardinals' list. Chris Carpenter is second at 14. Bob Gibson is first at 74.
Goldschmidt’s double was his 23rd extra-base hit in May, breaking a tie in that month with Pujols and Stan Musial. He is the first Cardinal to have 32 or more RBIs in a month since Pujols had 35 in June in 2009.
Gallegos, who threw 25 pitches in Monday's win, was tagged for a double by Alfaro over the head of right fielder Donovan before Grisham cracked his third homer of the season in the eighth.
Arenado and Pujols singled with two out in the ninth against 2021 Cardinal Luis Garcia. Nolan Gorman, hitting .387, was on the bench but Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol stayed with late-inning replacement Lars Nootbaar, who grounded out on a 3-2 pitch, sending the game tied to the ninth.
Ryan Helsley, working on back-to-back days for the first time this season, walked the leadoff hitter on four pitches in the ninth and then allowed two deep fly-ball outs before retiring Cano on a bouncer to first baseman Goldschmidt.
Drew VerHagen relieved in the 10th for the Cardinals, freezing the "ghost runner" at second base, with Sosa contributing a running catch in short left center and, more significantly, left fielder Nootbaar throwing out pinch runner Jose Azocar at home for the final out of the inning as Azocar tried to score on Jurickson Profar's single.
