ST. LOUIS — The battery powered by Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina connected for its 323rd start Saturday night. That left the Cardinals’ duo one game shy of tying the record held for nearly a half century by Detroit’s Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan.
While Wainwright, who did record two of the Cardinals' four double plays at key times, lurched through five innings in an 8-4 win over the Chicago Cubs, Molina, who officially is in the autumn of his career, has displayed a new spring in his step once the calendar rolled over to September.
Posting his second multi-hit game in the first two games of the month, Molina broke open a one-run game by doubling home three runs in a six-run Cardinals third inning. He then stole third standing up and came home on a sacrifice fly.
The stolen base was the first by a catcher 40 or older since Arizona's Henry Blanco did it in 2012, according to research by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wainwright gained win No. 194 but, in the dugout, he clearly was agitated with manager Oliver Marmol for yanking him from the game after just 82 pitches. Molina interceded to put his arms around Wainwright before the latter left the dugout for the clubhouse. The victory was the 41-year-old Wainwright’s 10th of the season, giving him 12 double-figure win campaigns in his career.
The Cardinals, victors in 25 games of their past 32, ran their latest winning streak to three games and lowered their magic number to 23 for clinching the National League Central Division title.
After the Cubs tapped Wainwright for three runs in the first, Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the home first. And Tommy Edman and Tyler O’Neill homered back-to-back to kick-start the six-run third.
