Wainwright, Molina make history in Cardinals best win of season

Vintage performance from Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina

Everyone was excited to see Wainwright and Molina break the MLB record for batterymate starts, but after that first pitch was thrown, none of that mattered. The Milwaukee Brewers had their ace on the mound and were looking for a sweep in St. Louis, so the iconic duo needed to bring their “A” game.

As the Cardinals offense chipped away at Burnes, Wainwright remained poised on the mound, allowing just 1 run in five innings of work to keep the Brewers in check. He may not have gone as deep into the game as he would have liked, but Wainwright pitched like this was a postseason game. With how the game is played now, 5 innings of one run ball is exactly what the club would need from him in the playoffs. He put them in position to win, and they did.

Molina’s chemistry with Wainwright showed once again as they navigated situations with runners on base throughout the game, including a vintage strike ’em out throw ’em out double play.

Molina continued his recent resurgence at the plate as well, including his RBI single that gave St. Louis the lead in the second inning. Over his last 5 games, Molina has slashed .263/.300/.632 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, looking like the kind of catcher that can be relied upon at the plate again. I made the argument recently that if Molina cannot improve at the plate, the Cardinals may need to pinch hit for him in big spots. If this recent success continues, there will be no need for that.