ST. LOUIS -- As Daniel Ponce de Leon sat in the Busch Stadium seats next to the home dugout on Thursday night watching Adam Wainwright start against the Reds, he had one question.
How does he do that?
Wainwright worked around three shaky innings with four runs allowed (two unearned) and turned his start into one of his best -- seven innings, six hits, no walks and four strikeouts in 97 pitches. After Mike Moustakas’ double in the third inning, Wainwright retired the next 15 batters.
“How was he able to go through those three innings, when he didn’t look right, nothing was crisp, and then he goes out and retires the next 15 in a row in seven innings?” Ponce de Leon said. “And two of those runs were unearned anyway. So I was baffled. Because in my experience, that’s three and four innings, and I’m out of there.”
That has been Ponce de Leon’s experience lately. In his past two starts, he only got through 3 1/3 innings (79 pitches) and 3 2/3 innings (85 pitches). But he’s also struck out 15 over those two outings, so his struggles aren’t solely a result of bad stuff. Rather, he hasn’t been able to do what Wainwright did Thursday -- make in-game adjustments and turn what starts as an inefficient outing into one of his best. Ponce de Leon asked Wainwright about it afterward.
“If I put myself in that position -- the game he was having was my game where I’m just walking a lot of guys, it’s slow and dragging on, and everyone in the stadium feels it,” Ponce de Leon said. “And it’s just like, in your head, you know you’ll be coming out soon because you’re not throwing strikes and getting it done.
“He said he came out of the inning like it was a 0-0 game. And obviously, he had his little keys and adjustments that got him right back on track. That just shows why he’s able to pitch in the league 15 years. That’s the difference between a guy who can pitch a couple years and that long. Those games right there.”
Ponce de Leon struggles with getting into deep counts, in part because his elevated fastball induces a lot of foul balls, which drives up his pitch count. That brought another set of questions to Wainwright and pitching coach Mike Maddux in hopes of figuring out the right pitch mix -- does he need to incorporate a sinker? Or does he simply need to hone his stuff into the zone? But step one, Ponce de Leon says, is his mindset on the mound. He’s learning from a veteran in hopes of taking the next step.
“It’s really just about controlling counts and throwing quality strikes,” manager Mike Shildt said. “If he does that, he’ll go deep into games. Really just about mixing his pitches, hitting with all his pitches, and he’ll be just fine. He’ll be able to go deeper into games and turn that corner and be that next-level starter that we think he’s capable of being.”
Molina passes The Wizard
Starting behind the plate in Saturday night’s 3-0 win over the Reds, catcher Yadier Molina passed Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith for third in franchise history in games played, with 1,991. The two above him are also Hall of Famers: Stan Musial (3,026) and Lou Brock (2,289).
Molina needs three RBIs to tie Joe Medwick (923) for eighth in Cardinals history and two doubles to tie Johnny Bench (381) for eighth among primary catchers in MLB history. Molina is also 10 hits shy of tying Red Schoendienst (1,980) for sixth in franchise history, and he needs 30 hits to reach 2,000 in his career.
Pitcher updates
Carlos Martínez threw a bullpen session at Busch Stadium on Saturday, and Ryan Helsley had an “aggressive” long toss, Shildt said. Both are on the COVID-19 injured list and, after being cleared to resume activity earlier this week, are working toward a return to the roster. Shildt expects to be able to give more clarity on their individual plans on Sunday.