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Cardinals' Adam Wainwright reveals what led to iconic strikeout of Carlos Beltran
18 years ago, one of the most iconic moments in St. Louis Cardinals history occurred.
With one wicked curveball, both time and Carlos Beltran stood still as the St. Louis Cardinals punched their ticket to the 2006 World Series.
It's hard to believe that it has been 18 years now since Adam Wainwright's first truly iconic moment of a decorated career with the Cardinals, but one of the best follows on Cardinals Twitter, Augie Nash, shared a clip of the iconic moment, and I couldn't help but be taken back to my childhood.
#OTD 2006 - Yadier Molina hits a two-run home run, and Adam Wainwright freezes Carlos Beltran with a nasty curve with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 victory in game 7 of the NLCS. #STLCards
— Augie Nash (@AugieNash) October 19, 2024
🎤Mike Shannon pic.twitter.com/is28cYffsl
I apologize if this makes you shake your head, but I was eight years old on this day in 2006, so many of my first core Cardinals memories revolve around this team of destiny. Wainwright, a 23 years old rookie at the time and filling in for the injured Jason Isringhausen, was looking to hold the Cardinals 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th inning, but after two singles and a walk, had to face one of the greatest postseason hitters in recent memory with the bases loaded in Beltran.
Below you'll see a thread of tweets that Wainwright responded to Nash's post on Twitter, explaining the thought process behind his first pitch changeup, one that clearly caught Beltran off-guard. He credited future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina with the pitch selection there.
You can tell it kind of confused him. What rookie pitcher would have the stones to throw his fourth best pitch in that situation to start an at bat? One that was too confident to know better and who trusted his catcher completely.
— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) October 19, 2024
He later detailed that Beltran tended to be selective when following behind in the count. which allowed him to be aggressive in the zone with that iconic curveball that most Cardinals fans have seen hundreds of times by now.
The gutsy strategy from Molina and Wainwright sent the Cardinals to the World Series, where they would eventually top the Detroit Tigers and bring the franchise home its tenth World Championship.
Wainwright, unfortunately, missed the entire 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, so this iconic run as the Cardinals' closer in 2006 was his true taste of World Series-winning baseball, although no one would deny his impact on the 2011 team even while injured, and Wainwright did lead the Cardinals to the October Classic in 2013.
This is easily one of my favorite memories of the Cardinals, and it is one that will continue to stand the test of time.
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