MILWAUKEE _ With little fear of dissent from Adam Wainwright, it is safe to say he was a much better hitter than pitcher last year.
The Cardinals right-hander won 13 games but his earned run average was a bloated, career-high 4.62. On the other side, he drove in 18 runs, most by a pitcher in the majors.
Wainwright, loser of his first three starts this season, started slowly before gathering steam as he fanned nine Milwaukee hitters before coming out after five innings Friday night. At bat, he was ferocious.
After clouting a two-run homer in the third inning to give himself the lead, Wainwright, seeing Kolten Wong walked intentionally in front of him in the fourth, singled sharply, driving in two more runs. The Cardinals would make it a four-run inning and roll it into a 6-3 win over the Brewers.
Jedd Gyorko beat out an infield tap to third to open the inning and, with one out, Jose Martinez singled to right. Randal Grichuk doubled to left center to score Gyorko and send Martinez to third. Wong then was walked before Wainwright delivered again.
Wong scored the fourth run of the inning as the Cardinals won a challenge. Dexter Fowler, who later would leave with right heel bursitis, flied to left fielder Ryan Braun, who fired an on-the-fly heave to the plate. Catcher Manny Pina had to reach high for the ball and Wong, coming from third, had little place to go as he bounced off Pina in front of the plate. Wong, initially, was called out but the call was overturned in New York via the replay system.
The Cardinals challenged both the block and the tag and, while Pina's blocking was ruled legal, the replay revealed that Wong had got his hand to the plate before Pina actually tagged him.
Milwaukee got a run back in its fourth on a two-out double by Orlando Arcia and it was 6-2 heading to the fifth. Wainwright allowed six hits and walked no one in throwing 100 pitches, 64 of them strikes.
But he wasn't perfect at bat. Allowed to hit for himself in the top of the sixth, he appeared to break his lucky bat and grounded into a double play.
The bullpen took over here and, after Jonathan Broxton had a scoreless sixth, left-hander Brett Cecil had an overpowering seventh, fanning the side.
Trevor Rosenthal, however, allowed a long homer to Braun in the eighth and it was 6-3. Seung Hwan Oh gained his third save in four tries, striking out Eric Thames, a star in Korea for the past three years, for the final out.
