Waino to miss next start, uncertain for final homestand

Newest member of 200-win club dealing with shoulder, back pain

September 20th, 2023

ST. LOUIS -- Career win No. 200 and his place in Cardinals lore forever secured, veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright will only pitch at Busch Stadium -- if he pitches again at all -- over the remainder of this season, manager Oliver Marmol said on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old Wainwright, who announced before last year that this will be his final MLB season, saved his best outing of 2023 for Monday when he tossed seven innings of scoreless, four-hit, two-walk baseball in a 1-0 defeat of the Brewers that gave him the 200th victory of his storied career. Wainwright became the fifth active MLB pitcher with 200 or more wins and only the third pitcher in Cardinals history to reach 200 wins.

After Wainwright pitched through shoulder pain and with his aching back taped up on Monday at Busch Stadium, Marmol announced that the MLB veteran of 18 seasons would not be taking his normal turn in the rotation on Saturday when the Cardinals face the Padres in San Diego. He added that if Wainwright pitches again, it will take place during the final home series of the season (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) against the Reds.

“We’re going to sit down. … We’ve started that conversation and we’ve decided that he will not take the start in San Diego,” Marmol said of Wainwright, who is 5-11 with a 7.40 ERA over 21 starts this season. “We’ll walk through what it looks like to finish the season, but we’ve yet to make the decision on [Wainwright pitching again].

“[Monday] night was pretty cool. If he takes another start, it will be in front of our home crowd.”

The Cardinals continue the home series vs. the Brewers from Tuesday to Thursday before embarking on a six-game road trip to San Diego and Milwaukee. Already assured of their first losing season since 2007 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 2018, the Cardinals close out the 2023 season with three home games against the Reds.

In his 478th MLB game, his 411th start and his 59th regular-season start since turning 40 years old, Wainwright became the first player in MLB history to have his 200th victory come via a 1-0 decision, per Elias Sports Bureau. At 42 years and 19 days, Wainwright also became the oldest Cardinals pitcher to throw seven scoreless innings, surpassing what Jim Kaat (41 years, 210 days) did on June 4, 1980.

Asked to pick the coolest text message he got on Monday night and Tuesday afternoon of the hundreds that flooded into his phone, Wainwright said, “[Reds Hall of Fame catcher] Johnny Bench is a pretty cool one.”

One possibility for Wainwright to make another appearance before Cardinals fans would be for him to be used as a designated hitter or a pinch-hitter -- something he has openly lobbied for all season. Wainwright is one of just three players in AL/NL history to homer in his first at-bat then win the game as a pitcher, which he did on May 24, 2006, vs. the Giants. In his career, Wainwright is a .193 hitter with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs. He hit two home runs in 2009, ’16 and ’17 and he has 39 doubles and two triples in his career.

Asked if he had been getting hounded by Wainwright to get some at-bats as his career winds to a close, Marmol playfully said: “That’s what [Wainwright] does. We will see [if it happens].”

Wainwright, who has 108 career wins in St. Louis, is scheduled to hold a three-song postgame concert at Busch Stadium following the game against the Reds on Sept. 30. An aspiring country music artist who performed live in front of fans in January, Wainwright has an album in the works that is scheduled to be released in early 2024. He also surprised Cardinals fans in March by singing the national anthem before the Opening Day loss to the Blue Jays.