HEADLINE

Veteran Wainwright looks to help Cardinals avoid Padres sweep

Field Level Media

April 07, 2019 at 7:56 am.

Adam Wainwright is the lion in winter.

Rivals still have to respect the former All-Star. But at the age of 37, the six-foot-7, 235-pound right-hander isn’t the force he once was.

Injuries have held him to eight or fewer starts in two of the last four seasons. Last year, Wainwright made three trips to the Injured List with elbow and hamstring issues. He started eight games all season, going 2-4 with a 4.46 earned run average and a 1.463 WHIP.

Clearly, the end is closer than the beginning … even the middle.

But Wainwright will get a warm greeting Sunday afternoon from the partisans at Busch Stadium as he faces the San Diego Padres as the Cardinals hope to avert being swept in their home-opening three-game series.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt recently discussed Wainwright, who has 148 career wins and a 3.33 career ERA in 353 career appearances (286 starts) over 14 seasons for the Cardinals.

“He has weapons,” said Shildt. “He knows how to use what weapons he has … and the weapons have changed a bit. But he’s super smart. He’s prepared. He’s extremely competitive.”

But how much remains in the tank of the ace who three times has finished near the top of the Cy Young Award voting? His statistics were good in spring training — a 2.51 ERA over 14 1/3 innings in four appearances. But he wasn’t fully happy with where he was. And in his first outing of the season, Wainwright gave up four runs on four hit and four walks with three strikeouts in four innings.

Wainwright takes a 9.00 ERA to the mound Sunday to face another pitcher who got off to a rocky start to the 2019 season.

Padres left-hander Matt Strahm had a glistening 2.05 ERA last season in 41 appearances covering 61 1/3 innings for the Padres. Five of those outings were starts, although several of those were as an opener. The Padres spent much of last season protecting the post-operative knee that forced Strahm to miss much of the 2017 season.

This spring, the Padres let Strahm extend himself into a starter — although many in the front office still believe his best value is in a bullpen that the Padres will be depending on with a young rotation that has yet to complete six innings in the season’s first nine games.

“Matt has all the tools to be a starter or a reliever,” said Padres manager Andy Green. “His pitches play well in either role. But he was exceptional out of the bullpen last year. We recognize that, knowing that our bullpen is going to play a key role in many games this season.”

While Strahm, in Green’s words, “checked off all the boxes” during spring training, he struggled mightily in his first start of the season against Arizona as the Padres’ No. 5 starter. He gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks in just 2 2/3 innings to officially get off to a 0-1 record and 16.88 ERA.

Strahm has two career appearances against the Cardinals, including an “opener” start last year. He has worked four hitless innings with one walk and five strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Wainwright has a 6-4 career record against the Padres with a 2.24 ERA and a 1.153 WHIP in 76 1/3 innings over 14 appearances (11 starts). He has given up 23 runs (19 earned) on 68 hits and 20 walks with 73 strikeouts.