Right-hander Adam Wainwright continued his mastery of the Houston Astros, beating them for the fourth time in four decisions Wednesday night. He has a 2.18 ERA against them and has defeated them twice this season.
"I think there are certain teams you get kind of geared up for and mentally you lock it in better," Wainwright said. "It's kind of a fault for me that I don't really mentally lock it in like that against everybody." Wainwright, however, felt a couple of things in his game were lacking. One was a disappointment -- that he couldn't get a complete game. The other, more nettling -- that again he failed to help himself at the plate.
"I definitely would have liked to have finished that game," Wainwright said. "I feel really good about the game, but it's kind of a letdown that I wasn't efficient enough down the stretch to finish that game.
"But at this point of the season -- Tony (La Russa) knows best -- it's probably not wise to run me out there for 140 pitches. I never argue with him. He's got a lot of wins."
At the plate, Wainwright, once a .400 hitter with a home run, has dropped to .171 in an 0-for-17 dive. He failed to get a sacrifice bunt down in the fourth before Cesar Izturis rescued him with a two-run triple.
"Is that a joke, or what?" Wainwright said, self-deprecatingly. "I'm embarrassing myself, but I'm also hurting the team bad. And I don't say that jokingly."
This victory was determined early, in large part by the defense.
Cardinals center fielder Rick Ankiel made a diving catch to snuff a potential single by Lance Berkman and end the Astros' first inning.
Earlier in the inning, second baseman Brendan Ryan made a snap throw to first after fielding a deflection by Wainwright to nip speedy Michael Bourn. Ryan also made a leaping catch to take another hit away from Bourn in the sixth.
CARDINALS 6, ASTROS 1: The Cardinals scored three runs on only one hit in the first inning, and shortstop Cesar Izturis tripled home two runs in the fourth. The Cardinals' win, authored by Adam Wainwright's eight strong innings, broke a tie with Houston for second place in the National League Central Division. St. Louis is 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs.
