Adam Wainwright goes the distance in St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 win

Adam Wainwright went the distance as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1 on Sunday afternoon.

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Wainwright allowed one run on seven hits as he moved to 17-9 on the season. The Georgian walked one and struck out three batters. He now posts a 2.62 ERA this season. Facing 32 batters, Wainwright allowed 100 pitches even for the day. After the month of August, Wainwright really needed this win over the Brewers. More importantly, he needed to show that he could go the distance down the stretch.

“It happens fast,” Wainwright said in a MLB.com article. “We knew if we stayed positive and went out there every day with urgency, we would — just like I’ve been trying for the last couple weeks — we would click into place. We’re in a good spot right now. We just have to continue to play every day like it’s our last.”

“We needed our ace to step up and give us a big game, and that’s exactly what he did,” Mike Matheny said in a MLB.com article.. “We didn’t need to tell anybody that this was a big series for us. We wanted a big-game pitcher in there, and he’s our guy.”

The Cardinals got on the board in the fourth inning when the club spotted four runs. Matt Adams‘ sac fly drove in Jon Jay. Oscar Taveras singled, driving home Jhonny Peralta. Peter Bourjos tripled and drove in both Yadier Molina and Taveras.

With Wainwright batting in the seventh inning, Kolten Wong successfully stole second base. Due to catcher Martin Maldonado‘s throwing error, Wong advanced to third base and Peter Bourjos scored.

Matt Carpenter singled on a grounder to short, driving in Wong. Carpenter should have stayed put as he ended up being called out at second.

After Wong’s 14th double of the year in the ninth inning, Carpenter drove him in on a single. Jhonny Peralta would go on to hit his 20th home run of the season, knocking in Jay. The home run also marked the 1,500th career hit for the shortstop.

It was a hit brigade for the Cardinals. Carpenter, Wong, and Bourjos all had a pair of hits. Taveras and Peralta had three hits on the day. It marked the first three-hit game of Taveras’ career in the big leagues.

It is amazing how just last week, the Cardinals and Brewers were tied for first place. The Brewers started to implode while the Cardinals started winning. With today’s win over Milwaukee, the Cardinals are five games ahead of the Brewers but the Pittsburgh Pirates have now jumped into second place (4.5 games back).

There’s still a lot of baseball left to be played.