Adam Wainwright, Offense lead St. Louis Cardinals to 7-1 win

Adam Wainwright and the offense led the St. Louis Cardinals to victory with a 7-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
May 7, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates with starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) after scoring in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Turner Field. Image Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Wainwright moves to 6-2 this season with a 2.02 ERA. He pitched 8 innings and allowed one run on six hits. He walked one and struck out six batters. Seth Maness pitched the ninth inning. Maness allowed one hit and struck out one batter.

Mike Matheny tinkered with the lineup on Wednesday, giving the night off to both Jon Jay and Allen Craig. Peter Bourjos got the start in center field tonight and it was the best move by far.

Matheny explained his decision to sit Craig to MLB.com beat writer Jennifer Langosch. Similarly, Matt Carpenter put in some extra time prior to the game taking grounders at third base.

Between Bourjos, Carpenter, and left fielder Matt Holliday, something clicked for the Cardinals on Wednesday. The team scored seven runs on 13 hits–with Bourjos, Carpenter, and Holliday having three hits a piece.

Bourjos, who started on Monday night, entered Monday’s game with a disappointing .154 batting average. He went 2-for-4 on Monday and followed through tonight with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including a home run. Bourjos scored twice and drove in two runs on Wednesday night. When all was said and done, the center fielder was hitting .217 this season. With five hits in two games, Bourjos batting average rose .063 points this week!

Carpenter now has a 4-game hitting streak going–going 8-for-16 in the process. He added a double to his evening–the fifth for Carpenter this season. Carpenter scored twice and drove in one runner as the Cardinals offense supported their ace pitcher. He’s closing in on a .300 batting average as the Texan is hitting .288 after his 3-hit performance.

Holliday showed why he is the veteran performer that he is. The left fielder had a 3-for-5 night, including three RBIs, and raised his batting average to .285 this season.

Jhonny Peralta added a hit to continue his 6-game hitting streak. The shortstop also would score on the night.

Matt Adams added a hit on the evening but also struck out twice. The first baseman is still hitting over .300 but not hitting anywhere near the pace that he was. It’s not as bad as some of the other guys so I’m not complaining. Heck, he has 11 doubles on the season!

Yadier Molina, though, had a hitless night in four plate appearances. The catcher, who was hitting .350 on April 29, is now hitting .310 this season.

Mark Ellis, who played second base tonight, had a hitless night and is sitting on a .170 batting average. The veteran has hit under .200 during the past 10 games and I fully expect Kolten Wong will be recalled by the end of next week. The Cardinals need Wong’s bat in the lineup along with his speed. They aren’t getting any of that out of Ellis.