ATLANTA -- Mitchell Boggs, a Cardinals pitcher from 2008-13 and someone who made it to the big leagues from a small Georgia town much like Adam Wainwright did nearly 20 years ago, saw his buddy for the first time in years on Wednesday and made it a point to pass along a pointed and poignant message.

“I saw Mitchell Boggs yesterday, and he said something that was pretty powerful to me,” Wainwright said Thursday, before facing the homer-bashing Braves in pursuit of the 199th win of his career the next day.  

“He said, ‘Whether you get 198 or 200, you’ve still had the same career and an amazing career that’s affected a lot of people.’ I really took that to heart. [Getting to 200] is a cool number, and I’d love to have it, but the difference between 198 and 200 isn’t that much. There’s a lot of different ways we could have gotten there over the years, but hopefully we get it.”

The 42-year-old Wainwright, who long ago declared this season as his last pitching in the big leagues, is now facing the jarring reality that winning two more games to get to career win No. 200 just might not happen. He’s expected to make four more starts before calling it a career, and following Thursday’s 8-5 loss to the Braves at Truist Park, he admitted for the first time that he might have to become content with falling just short of the mark only Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Jesse Haines have reached in Cards history.

“After the first inning today, I felt like we were going to win that game,” said Wainwright, who surrendered eight hits -- four of them solo home runs -- and six runs over 5 2/3 innings to baseball’s best offense. “Last game [against the Padres], I thought we were going to win. In Pittsburgh, I really thought we were going to win that one. And against the Mets, six innings and three runs, I felt like we had a chance to win that one, too.

“So, we’re close, but I don’t know.”

After Thursday’s game -- the final one he will ever pitch at the MLB level in his home state of Georgia or against a Braves team he grew up rooting for, was drafted by in 2000 and was dealt by -- several prominent Braves proclaimed that the right-hander doesn’t need 200 wins to secure his spot in baseball lore.

“I'm so proud of him and his career,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who managed Wainwright in the Minor Leagues. “I love the guy. I told him, 'You're going to have a statue at Busch Stadium.' Just an unbelievable career. He’s a wonderful person.”

Added Braves lefty Max Fried, who improved to 5-0 against the Cards: "He's a winner, and he's a pitcher. … He's been doing it for a long time at an extremely high level."

Wainwright was greeted right away when Ronald Acuña Jr. hit the first pitch that he threw a Statcast-projected 426 feet and 115.3 mph off the bat for a solo homer. It was the 12th time in Acuña's career that he’s hit the first pitch for a homer, and it was his 32nd career leadoff homer.

After surrendering three first-inning runs, Wainwright breezed through the game’s next three innings by spinning in curveballs and artfully changing pace. In the game, he caused seven whiffs with five coming from his prominent pitches -- two coming from his curve, two from his cutter and one from his sinker.

However, as so often has been the case this season, the fifth and sixth innings proved disastrous. MLB home run leader Matt Olson smashed a 410-foot long ball to center for Atlanta’s second solo homer, and Michael Harris II and Acuña hit curveballs below the strike zone for home runs that moved the Braves within nine of the National League record of 279 homers held by the 2019 Dodgers.

“That guy is a living legend, and he deserves all the credit he gets," Acuña said of Wainwright.

Acknowledging that his career is metaphorically not only in the ninth inning, but “there are a couple of outs, too,” as he said recently, Wainwright said the emotion of pitching for the last time in Atlanta hit him as he walked off the field in the sixth. He might not reach 200 wins, but he’ll always have the memories provided by those who came to watch him pitch one more time.

“After I was done, saying hello to lots of friends that were right there behind the dugout -- my [high school] football coach, baseball coach, friends growing up, my cousin and my daughter’s boyfriend was back there,” he said. “Everywhere I looked, there was always somebody from my hometown. So I felt very loved today.”