DENVER_Leave it to Adam Wainwright to throw a hairpin curve in his season.
After two successful, resurgent starts at home, the St. Louis Cardinals' veteran starter took his new look on the road for seven shutout innings Saturday night at Coors Field. Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham combined to score all of the runs Wainwright and the bullpen needed for a 3-0 victory in Colorado, a haven for hitters that Wainwright has never feared. He remains unbeaten at the ballpark that has crumbled lesser curveballers, and after starting the season in a valley, the Cardinals' ace is climbing.
Less than 20 days ago, Wainwright did not find his way out of the sixth inning of a start for the sixth time this season. His ERA ballooned to 6.37. In the three starts since, he hasn't pitched less than six innings and he's shaved two runs from his ERA. His. 2.31 ERA at Coors is the lowest of any opposing pitcher at Coors with at least five starts. He held the Rockies to three hits, bought the lineup time to get a lead, saw them extend it with Pham's two-run homer, and then held it.
At a ballpark that can test the elasticity of any roster, the Cardinals played short Saturday right from the start. Stephen Piscotty remained away from the team do to a family matter, and Kolten Wong was scratched from the lineup shortly before first pitch. Wong experienced soreness in his left elbow for a second time in a week. That left the Cardinals with two bats on the bench, backup catcher Eric Fryer and Matt Carpenter, who did not start.
Wainwright did his part by not needing a pinch-hitter through his seven innings. No pinch-hitter was expended as he seamless turned a three-run lead over to Trevor Rosenthal.
He tempted trouble.
Colorado greeted Rosenthal with two pinch hitters for the two lowest spots in the order. One walked. The other reached on an error. That meant to avoid damage Rosenthal had to negotiate with one of the best tops of the order in baseball. By the time he survived the inning, the Rockies would bring up their cleanup hitter with the tying run on base. Rosenthal struck out two, getting Charlie Blackmon on an off-speed pitch and D.J. LeMahieu with a 100-mph fastball, and he close the inning with a groundout.
Seung Hwan Oh pitched a drama-free ninth for his 11th save.
The shutout before a sellout crowd of red-splashed 48,106 echoed a shutout by Colorado on Friday and sets up Sunday's series finale as the deciding game.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Fowler led off with a single and then took third on Pham's single. Yadier Molina drove Fowler home with a base hit that extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
That ties a career high.
Wainwright had that slim margin to work with for the first four innings of the game. He did so, once by ducking out of a two-out challenge in the second inning, and then again in the fourth inning. Each time he got a strikeout to end the inning. Each time that strikeout was setup or finished with the cutter.
