Adam Wainwright barely used his cutter in NLCS Game 5, and it worked.
Adam Wainwright barely used his cutter in NLCS Game 5, and it worked. (USATSI)

The Cardinals lost Game 5 of the NLCS on Thursday night, but not because of ace Adam Wainwright. He gave the team seven innings of two-run ball despite a reportedly balky elbow. The bullpen blew the lead and the game in eighth and ninth innings.

Wainwright's first two postseason starts did not go well -- six runs in 4 1/3 innings in NLDS Game 1 against the Dodgers and three runs in 4 2/3 innings in NLCS Game 1 against the Giants -- prompting lots of questions about the health of his elbow. For what it's worth, Wainwright and manager Mike Matheny both insisted the pitcher was healthy.

For whatever reason, injury or no injury, Wainwright got knocked around in his first two postseason starts. He changed up the plan of attack in NLCS Game 5 and scaled back on his trademark cutter, instead attacking the Giants with a heavy dose of straight four-seam fastballs and curveballs. Here's his pitch breakdown, courtesy of Brooks Baseball:

Adam Wainwright's Pitch Selection In 2014
Date Four-Seamer Sinker Cutter Curveball Changeup
Regular Season 17.2% 23.2% 29.8% 27.4% 1.8%
NLDS Game 1 12.8% 24.5% 31.4% 31.4% 0.0%
NLCS Game 1 19.4% 2.0% 48.0% 29.6% 1.0%
NLCS Game 5 37.1% 12.4% 13.4% 35.1% 2.1%

Like most pitchers, Wainwright's four-seam fastball has a bit more velocity than his cut fastball. His four-seamer averaged 91.24 mph during the regular season (91.99 in Game 5) while his cutter averaged 87.33 mph (86.70 in Game 5). That little extra oomph can make a big difference, especially if the Giants hitters were gearing up for his cutter.

Wainwright's curveball is simply one of the best in the world, a true 12-to-6 hammer that looks like it's falling out of the sky because he's so danged tall (6-foot-7). It's his most effective put-away pitch while the cutter has been more of a multipurpose offering over the years. He uses his cutter to get ahead in the count, to get back in the count, to get quick outs, etc.

That pitch was clearly not working for Wainwright in his first two postseason starts. Opponents hit .231 with a .304 slugging percentage against the cutter during the regular season, but in his two Game 1 starts this October, they hit .294 with a .353 slugging percentage off the cutter. Whether he was unable to "finish" the pitch properly because of his elbow or there was something else wrong, Wainwright's cutter wasn't doing the job.

Most pitchers couldn't dream of scrapping their main pitch because it wasn't working for whatever reason, but Wainwright isn't most pitchers. In Game 5 he simply de-emphasized his cutter and stuck with a true four-seamer and his knockout curveball, and it worked. Now we have to see if an offseason of rest will get Wainwright's cutter back to where it needs to be, or if this is the start of a permanent adjustment at age 33.