Ageless Wainwright untouchable again
The Pirates drawing Adam Wainwright on Wednesday was like staggering through the desert tired and thirsty, only to discover a bottle of hot sauce sticking out from the sand. Although the Pirates offense has hardly been super, St. Louis’ ageless wonder has been their kryptonite.
Wainwright had won his past five starts against the Pirates and was riding a career-best seven -game win streak when facing them. The most recent time Wainwright lost to the Pirates was April 3, 2016 — so long ago that only three members of the team’s active roster had made their MLB debuts at that point. There was also that sixinning, one-run, eight-strikeout gem earlier this season, back on June 26.
The only solace might have been Wainwright’s career ERA at PNC Park — a pedestrian 5.47 — though
it wound up mattering little, as the Pirates offense once again remained in neutral. One night after getting onehit by J.A. Happ, the Pirates failed to score a run against another pitcher pushing 40, dropping a 4-0 decision to Wainwright’s Cardinals at PNC Park.
The Pirates mustered just two hits against the lanky right-hander, both coming from Colin Moran and one an infield single. Wainwright did not walk a batter and struck out seven during a masterful performance where he needed just 88 pitches to complete nine innings.
“He was missing barrels,” Anthony Alford said. “He was making pitches, making us put the ball in play and getting outs. Kept his pitch count down. I just thought he did a really good job pitching [Wednesday].”
The Pirates now lost seven in a row, nine of 10 and 16 of 21 to fall to 41-73 on the year.
Wainwright has kept the Cardinals afloat, posting a 51 record since the All-Star break and lowering his ERA on the year to 3.27. After Wednesday’s gem, only Johnny Cueto (21) has more career wins against the Pirates than Wainwright (19) among active pitchers.
“He really executed well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He was in complete control the whole game.”
Ahead by a run, St. Louis broke this one open in the sixth, scoring three times off Cody Ponce. Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong knocked in the first two by shooting a curveball into the right-center gap.
The Pirates intentionally walked second baseman Tommy Edman to get to Wainwright, but the strategy backfired when he smacked a Ponce cutter up the middle for a 4-0 lead.
As for the offense, well, it was a rough one. Hoy Park and Ke’Bryan Hayes struck out in the first on questionable calls. After Moran’s first single, Rodolfo Castro quickly bounced into a double play. An 0-for-3 night dropped Castro’s average to .125 over his past 24 at-bats.
Amazingly, the Pirates did not have a single at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
Harrison Bader made a couple of terrific catches in center, but Wainwright did exactly what Alford said: He stayed off the barrel and forced weak contact. In addition to his seven strikeouts, Wainwright allowed just seven hard-hit balls (95 mph or greater).
“He had it all going,” Wil Crowe said. “Even on his misses, they were on the corners. He made some good pitches.”
The only highlight for the Pirates, honestly, was a diving catch for Alford to open the fifth. Facing Bader, Alford sprinted to his right and laid out to snare a ball with a 5% catch probability.
It showed Alford’s athleticism and what he can do defensively, but it also meant little consider how much the Pirates struggled against Wainwright.
“Really good defense,” Shelton said. “Got a great jump. Left his feet. Really impressive play. He’s done a nice job the outfield.”
Wednesday wasn’t Crowe’s best work, but it represented a step forward from his last time out, when he gave up seven runs (three earned) on eight hits in four innings last Thursday in Cincinnati.
A focal point for Crowe has been tempo. When he has struggled this season, things have ground to a halt. Shelton and pitching coach Oscar Marin have worked with Crowe to keep his tempo up and not let occurences in the game get him out of rhythm.
Crowe went 4⅔ innings and allowed one earned run on three walks with four strikeouts. The run came in the fourth, when catcher Yadier Molina singled home first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
The sinker and curveball were much better for Crowe against the Cardinals, although he appeared to tire later following a stretch of eight in a row retired. Crowe walked two and gave up four hits before Shelton went to his bullpen.
“He executed early on and then in the fifth, the ball started to drift in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “I thought [his pace] got a little bit slow in the fifth, but nothing worrisome. It was just more the execution of the pitch. I actually thought his pace was pretty good [Wednesday].”