Right-hander Adam Wainwright stranded runners in scoring position on four occasions Friday as he scored his first victory since April in a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles. Wainwright had had four starts in May without a win before he gained his fourth on Friday.
It didn't come easily, though, as right-hander Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals' new closer, had to withstand a one hour, five minute rain delay before finally closing out the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth. Play was stopped with one out and a 3-2 count on center fielder Matt Kemp, whom Franklin walked. Before he nailed down his third save, Franklin walked another hitter and threw a wild pitch but then he fanned pinch hitter Andruw Jones to end the game.
Manager Tony La Russa had two pitchers warming up in the ninth when it appeared Franklin was laboring, but he stuck with Franklin.
Right fielder Ryan Ludwick continued his blistering hitting, homering to account for both Cardinals runs and adding two singles. He has a league-high nine home runs for May and 13 overall. He has five homers in his last six games.
"I don't think I'm in a zone," he said. "I'm just going up there trying to get a pitch to hit and hit it hard."
Wainwright, who worked seven innings, giving up just one run, had difficulty with his location early in the game but settled down. "The more I went, the better I felt," he said. "Now the trick is to get that feeling from the first inning on."
The right-hander's curveball was breaking as well as it had all season. "I had a good one," he said. "When you've got that going, you can do some cool things."
CARDINALS 2, DODGERS 1: They had to survive a rare ninth-inning rain delay Friday in Los Angeles, but the Cardinals ensured they will have at least a .500 trip. They won their third of four games on this six-game swing, making Ryan Ludwick's two-run homer in the third inning stand up for Adam Wainwright's fourth win but his first since April 26. Ludwick had three of the six hits.
