Determined to go deep, Waino spins 7, K's 10

WASHINGTON -- With each pitch Adam Wainwright reached back for in the seventh inning, he was setting a Cardinals milestone. A humble milestone, but an important one nonetheless.

Strikeout after strikeout in his final frame -- three of them, setting down the side in order -- Wainwright became the first Cardinals starter to pitch into the seventh inning this season. It may have taken 17 games, but it’s a talking point now no more.

It was just how St. Louis mapped out their wins this season, riding a strong starting pitching performance and then handing a lead off to their traditionally staunch bullpen. It was in Tuesday’s forecast. And then it wasn’t.

A stellar outing from Wainwright was lost, 3-2, to the Nationals at Nationals Park on Tuesday, with Giovanny Gallegos the culprit of the first loss tagged to the bullpen. The Cardinals did what they could to avoid it -- sporting a five-man infield in the eighth inning and finding some timely hits once Nats starter Patrick Corbin had bounced -- but a bases-loaded walk to Yan Gomes ultimately ended as the night’s razor-thin margin.

“It's the first one that we've had that got away, so to speak, late [in the game], and that's going to happen occasionally,” manager Mike Shildt said. “They don’t taste real good.”

For almost eight innings on Tuesday, it appeared destined to end the opposite.

That was because of Wainwright, the Cardinals’ proclaimed “bulldog,” who seemed to pitch more comfortably as the game progressed. Striking out the side in the seventh -- where he reached three of his four fastest pitches on the night -- he surmounted double-digit punchouts for the 11th time in his career.

St. Louis entered the night with only one starter hitting six innings so far this season (Jack Faherty, twice). Now Wainwright has entered that fray -- and extended it.

"I couldn't go another game in a row pitching five innings. Five and dive is my least favorite thing in the world,” Wainwright said. “I don't like being that pitcher. That's not a pitcher to me; that's a thrower."

When Wainwright struck out pinch-hitter Yadiel Hernandez to end his night, he found himself with double-digit strikeouts for the first time since May 2019, when he whiffed 10 in Philadelphia. No Cardinals pitcher has done so at Wainwright’s age (39 years, 233 days) since Chuck Finley did, striking out 12 Cubs in September 2002, just 46 days older at the time than Wainwright.

“It’s a quest for nine every time I take the mound,” Wainwright said. “If I go less than that, it better be over seven. That's my mentality. We knew, rightfully so, we had been taking a lot of heat for not going deeper into the games. … If you're pitching five innings every time, that's not a starting pitcher’s job. That's just not our job to pitch [only] five innings. Not in my mind, anyways.”

Following the blueprint laid out for the pitching staff at the outset of the season, the three pitchers the Cardinals could have wanted to pitch on an ideal night -- Wainwright, Gallegos and Alex Reyes -- all did on Tuesday. It just so happened to be a precursor to the first major blip on Gallegos’ 2021 season.

A walk, hit by pitch and single had tied the game at 2-2 and put the go-ahead run at third with no outs recorded. By the time Gallegos retired his first batter and intentionally walked the bases loaded, Shildt tapped Edmundo Sosa into the game to employ a five-man infield.

Defensive theatrics were for naught; Gallegos struck out Starlin Castro for the second out before issuing a four-pitch walk to Gomes to put the Nats ahead for good, and handing the baton to Reyes.

It was a cognizant decision made by Shildt to stick with Gallegos, a historically stellar setup reliever, though they had Reyes warming, knowing he’s able to pitch the ninth inning and enter earlier as needed.

“You’re going to lose a lot of confidence in the bullpen if you don't give a guy a chance to wiggle out of something that he’s done for basically three years without a whole lot of setbacks,” Shildt said.

It seems for these Cardinals that one step forward can lead to a couple back. Whereas Tuesday’s positive harbinger started with Wainwright, it came with an inauspicious night for the offense -- a day removed from feasting -- and the bullpen, though confidence still remains abounds.

“Tonight was an important step. It's not the end goal -- seven is not the end goal -- but it's an important step in the right direction,” Wainwright said. “ … Pitchers go deep into games and give yourself and your team a chance to win the ballgame. I love and was glad that I was able to do that tonight.”