Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Wainwright pitches, hits Cardinals past Dodgers
CARDINALS 2, DODGERS 0
ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright credits a more rigorous pregame warmup routine as part of the reason for his May rebound.
Wainwright hit a two-run homer off Brandon McCarthy and pitched six innings of four-hit ball, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 on Thursday for a four-game split.
"Earlier in my career it was a little different when I took the mound, my first pitch of the game I was hot and I was ready to rock," the 35-year-old Wainwright said. "I could still probably do that now, but I feel more prepared when I get a good warm up now."
After finishing April 2-3 with a 6.11 ERA, Wainwright was 3-0 in May.
Wainwright (6-3) struck out six and walked two, pitching out of two-on, one-out jams in the fourth and fifth, and extending his scoreless streak to 161/3 innings. His ERA has dropped to 3.79.
Matt Bowman, Trevor Rosenthal and Seung Hwan Oh pitched an inning each to complete a five-hitter. Oh threw a one-hit ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances.
Wainwright followed Paul DeJong's second-inning single with a drive over the left-field bullpen for his 10th career homer. Wainwright has six hits and seven RBIs this season.
"He showed me the curveball before and kind of locked me up a little bit, but he threw it out of the same slot the next time and I was able to put a good swing on it," Wainwright said.
McCarthy (5-2) gave up seven hits in four innings, struck out six and walked one, before leaving with a blister.
Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal were ejected in the ninth by plate umpire Marty Foster. Gonzalez took a called third strike on the outside corner leading off and was tossed while arguing from the dugout as Grandal was being introduced as a pinch hitter with one out and one on, prompting
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go to the plate for a discussion with Foster. Grandal swung past strike three, got into an argument with Foster — apparently over a called strike on the second pitch of the at-bat — and also was tossed. Austin Barnes then popped out.
"Once he threw me out, I might as well go out there and let him have a little more," Gonzalez said. "The funniest thing is he told Dave afterwards that he's been calling pitches off the plate all game, so he wasn't going to change."
AMERICAN LEAGUE ORIOLES 7, RED SOX 5
Wade Miley allowed one run in seven innings, Mark Trumbo hit the first of Baltimore’s four home runs off Eduardo Rodriguez and the Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 7-5 on Thursday night. Chris Davis and Adam Jones went deep for a second straight night and Jonathan Schoop capped the outburst with a three-run drive in the sixth that made it 7-1. After taking two of three from the AL East-leading New York Yankees, the Orioles opened a four-game series against another division rival with a feel-good victory. Miley (2-3) gave up five hits and a walk against the team he pitched for in 2015.