MLB playoffs: Adam Wainwright's gem goes to waste as Cardinals fall to Braves in NLDS Game 3
Wainwright was masterful in Game 3 but his bullpen blew the game
By
Mike Axisa
•
3 min read
Adam Wainwright deserved better. In Game 3 of the NLDS on Sunday, the veteran Cardinals right-hander turned in 7 2/3 masterful innings against the Braves and put his club in position to take a 2-1 series. But then closer Carlos Martinez came in for the ninth inning and melted down, turning a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 loss (box score), which equals a 1-2 series deficit for the Cardinals.
"There's disappointment, absolutely, because you get invested for (7 2/3 innings) and go out and lay it out there and play the game and you get a great pitching performance, to your point, from Waino," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said after Game 3. "Yeah, that doesn't feel real good, but we'll be ready to go tomorrow, I can tell you that."
Shildt pushed Wainwright to the limit in Game 3 -- he threw 120 pitches and was visibly fatigued at the end -- and it nearly led to disaster in the eighth. Wainwright loaded the bases on a single and two walks before giving way to Andrew Miller, who coaxed an inning-ending fly ball from Freddie Freeman to preserve the slim 1-0 lead.
The Busch Stadium crowd gave Wainwright a thunderous ovation as he left the field. "They poured their heart out for me today and I poured my heart out for them today," he told MLB.com's Joe Trezza about the fans.
It was not until that eighth inning that Wainwright allowed a Braves baserunner to make it as far as third base. Only one runner, Dansby Swanson on a third inning double, made it as far as second base in the first seven innings. Wainwright retired 22 of the first 25 batters he faced and one of the three baserunners was an infield single. It was a vintage performance for the 38-year-old.
"We talk about experience. It's real," Shildt said following Game 3. "It's not everything, but when you've got a guy that's out there, scattered a couple of hits, throwing strikes, you know, you take your spot, you take your shot with him."
For Wainwright, the key to his Game 3 performance was his trademark curveball, a big breaker that he occasionally threw as slow as 68 mph. Wainwright threw 57 curveballs in Game 3 and he was frequently able to drop them in for called strikes, especially at the top of the zone. He also buried the curve in the dirt for swings and misses. That helped his 90-ish mph heater to play up.
Wainwright struck out eight, more than he did in all but six of his 31 regular season starts, and his 13 swings and misses were more than he had in all but four regular season starts. Nine of the 15 balls he allowed in play stayed on the infield. The Braves struggled to make contact, and when they did get the bat on the ball, they didn't hit it all that hard.
The 120 pitches were not a season high for Wainwright -- he threw 126 pitches in eight shutout innings against the Cubs on June 2 -- but he is only the second pitcher to throw that many pitches in a postseason game since 2016 (Justin Verlander threw 124 pitches in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS). Wainwright gave the Cardinals everything he had in Game 3, and it went to waste.
With the Cardinals one loss away from elimination now, it's hard not to wonder whether Sunday was Wainwright's final MLB game, or at least his final game with the Cardinals. Wainwright returned to the team on a cheap one-year contract this past offseason and, frankly, it's difficult to see him anywhere else. It might be Cardinals or retirement next year, though he's not thinking about that yet.
"I never felt for one second that today was going to be my last day," Wainwright told reporters, including MLB.com's Joe Trezza and MLB.com's Jeff Jones, following Game 3. "Either we've got more games to win or I've got more games to pitch."
Consider the St. Louis rotation depth chart going into the offseason:
- RHP Jack Flaherty
- RHP Miles Mikolas
- RHP Dakota Hudson
- RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon
- LHP Genesis Cabrera
- RHP Alex Reyes
Wainwright threw 171 2/3 innings with a 4.19 ERA during the regular season -- that is more or less league average in this home run happy era -- and he showed Sunday he is still capable of dominating on occasion. There appears to be room for him in the 2020 rotation. At the same time, St. Louis has several talented young arms, and may be ready to turn things over.
For now, Wainwright and the Cardinals will focus on keeping their season alive in Game 4 on Monday. There is a time and a place to think about next year and it is not in the middle of a postseason series. If it was Wainwright's final MLB game, he left everything he had out on that field.
