A physically refreshed Adam Wainwright will continue his quest for 200 career victories when the St. Louis Cardinals host the streaking Chicago Cubs on Saturday night.
Wainwright (3-4, 7.31 ERA) has been stuck on 198 lifetime victories since June 17. After recovering from shoulder soreness, he came off the injured list Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals won 10-6, but Wainwright didn’t get the decision despite holding the Diamondbacks to two runs on four hits in five innings.
Wainwright returned with more zip on his fastball and more bite on his breaking pitches after receiving cortisone shots.
“That’s the best I’ve felt all year,” Wainwright told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “And it’s not even close. Stuff was way better. A lot more life. Breaking ball was snapping. Sinker was sinking. Now we just hone. Now we hone a little bit more. That is certainly a game I can build off of.”
Wainwright, 41, originally planned to throw once more on the side, but a successful 45-pitch bullpen session was all the convincing he needed.
“It definitely means something. You have to take him at his word,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s telling me this is the best he’s felt all year: ‘Use it while I’m feeling good.'”
Wainwright rejoined a rotation that could lose both Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty to trades. The Cardinals will need Wainwright to eat some innings down the stretch.
“I’m very excited about going forward from there,” he said. “That’s a good jumping-off point. I’m more excited about the next start right now than I have been all year.”
The Cubs got to Wainwright in their last meeting on June 24 in London. He allowed seven runs on 11 hits — including two homers by Ian Happ — in three innings of a 9-1 setback.
Happ is 13-for-34 with six homers and eight RBIs against Wainwright in his career.
Wainwright is 19-15 with a 4.01 ERA in 58 games (49 starts) against the Cubs.
The Cubs have won seven straight games to move 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Chicago defeated the Cardinals 10-3 Thursday at Busch Stadium and 3-2 on Friday.
Jameson Taillon (4-6, 5.75 ERA) will start Saturday’s game for the Cubs. He is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals this season and 4-1 with a 3.45 ERA in 11 lifetime starts against them.
Taillon held the Cardinals to one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-2 Chicago victory on Sunday.
“We’re just trying to play good baseball,” Taillon told The Athletic. “I know it’s like a very cliche answer, but for myself individually, I’m just trying to make more good pitches than bad and just do my job.
“We can obviously put a lot of weight into the games over the next week, but we’ve also had months to show who we are. Obviously, you don’t want to overcook these games, but I do feel like we’re playing well right now. I do feel like we’re clicking in a lot of different areas.”
–Field Level Media
