Adam Wainwright pitches a gem for St. Louis Cardinals in 8-0 win
By Danielle
Adam Wainwright pitched a complete game shutout for the St. Louis Cardinals as the team went on to take advantage of sloppy Washington Nationals defense in a 8-0 victory. This was Wainwright’s 14th complete game since 2010, tied for 5th AND he missed the entire 2011 season!
Apr 17, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) throws during the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Image Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Wainwright allowed two hits and three walks in nine innings of play. He was sharp on the mound with eight strikeouts. Wainwright even helped himself at the plate, where he was 2-for-3 with a double, run, RBI, and walk.
The offense started working in the first inning when shortstop Ian Desmond allowed Matt Carpenter to reach on an error. Carpenter would score the first run of the game on a Matt Holliday double. It was the game-winning run as the Nationals did not score on the evening.
It wasn’t over. The fun was only beginning. Kolten Wong scored on a Matt Adams groundout to second base while Holliday would score on a single hit by Yadier Molina.
A few errors led to Jhonny Peralta scoring in the 4th inning to give the Cards a 4-0 advantage.
With one out and the bases loaded in the sixth inning, the Nationals decided to put starting pitcher Taylor Jordan out of his misery by sending in relief pitcher Blake Treinen. Wong would strike out for the second out of the inning. Holliday and Adams had back to back singles to drive in Jon Jay, Wainwright, and Carpenter for a 7-0 lead.
The final run of the night came in the 7th inning when Wong was up with the bases loaded once more. With two outs, Wong singled and drove in Jay, who started in place of Peter Bourjos.
Overall, the Cardinals were 8-for-23 with runners in scoring position but left 15 runners on base, including the ninth inning when Molina popped out with the bases loaded. The Cardinals loaded the bases plenty of times throughout the evening as they capitalized on mistakes made by the Nationals.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny made some defensive switches. He took out Holliday and moved Allen Craig to left field, inserting Shane Robinson at right. The first play of the inning saw Robinson run far to get Anthony Rendon on a fly ball to foul territory in right field.