JUPITER, Fla. -- The results were bound to get better, and they did for Adam Wainwright, who shook off a beating against the Mets last Friday with a much more controlled performance on Thursday.
It wasn't completely crisp, as the Marlins did tag Wainwright for five hits and three runs (one earned) over four innings. He threw 71 pitches (47 strikes) before retreating to the bullpen to build up his pitch count. The Cardinals went on to win, 5-3.
The four innings matched Wainwright's spring high, and they were much more in line with where he'd hoped to be at this point in camp. Wainwright was coming off a start in which he allowed 10 runs and was chased before finishing two innings.
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"It was a lot better," Wainwright said afterward. "[I had] more conviction behind each pitch and more purpose. I was a lot more focused. I went into the game with my normal pregame routine and had a good mindset out there. Just much more quality stuff."
Wainwright has tried to piece together his repertoire as the weeks have passed in Spring Training. He rediscovered the right curveball grip by watching a video tutorial, and he has been more liberal in throwing his changeup.
On Thursday, Wainwright was particularly pleased with his cutter. A grip change was behind that revelation, too.
"I had altered my cutter grip without knowing it," Wainwright said. "Today, the pitches that were 86, 87 [mph], those are cutters. Earlier in the spring, they were 82, 83 [mph]. So it's getting back to where it needs to be."
Wainwright has one outing left to get everything in order before he starts the second game of the Cardinals' season. It will be his sixth Grapefruit League outing, more than he's had in a spring since 2013. He'll enter that game having allowed 22 hits and a .367 opponents' batting average over 14 2/3 innings. He's only struck out two more (nine) than he's walked.
But poor spring results haven't always been a harbinger of what's ahead for Wainwright. Consider that in 2009 and '10 -- years in which he finished as a finalist for the Cy Young Award -- opponents hit .324 and .312, respectively, off of him in Grapefruit League play.
Wainwright will get the chance to close on a high note next Tuesday in a rematch against the Mets.
"What I want to do is go out and pitch the next game exactly mindset-wise, conviction-wise, like I would in the regular season," Wainwright said. "Arsenal-wise, everything needs to be coming together to complete the picture going into my opening start. "