ST. LOUIS _ Adam Wainwright, still the Cardinals' No. 1 starter six weeks shy of his 35th birthday, turned in his third straight performance of one run or none Saturday night. And this one, a 5-0 win, was the best of the bunch.
Wainwright blanked the Miami Marlins on three hits for his first shutout since Sept. 17, 2014 before a sold-out Busch Stadium house of 44,840 which included his 2006 World Series championship teammates, who were honored before the game.
Wainwright, who threw a season-high 120 pitches in his 10th career shutout, hurled hitless ball until the sixth when Miami shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria doubled. Christian Yelich doubled to open the seventh and Hechavarria shot a single off the left foot of Wainwright in the eighth.
The Cardinals' right-hander, who improved to 9-5, has permitted just one run in 23 innings over his last three starts and hadn't gone eight innings in a game since April 19 of last year. He walked two and struck out five.
The Cardinals' offense, for the second night in succession, came mostly from the outfield. Right fielder Stephen Piscotty drove in two runs with a third-inning double and center fielder Randal Grichuk also doubled in a run in the inning. Left fielder Tommy Pham started the four-run third with still another double.
Those three had all homered, accounting for the six Cardinals runs on Friday. Jhonny Peralta hit his fifth homer to finish the scoring in the fifth inning Saturday.
