Sending Adam Wainwright to the mound in relief in the bottom of the second inning probably wasn’t how the St. Louis Cardinals drew this up.
That goes for their season as well as their game Saturday night. Wainwright, the 36-year-old stalwart of their rotation who has finished in the top three in the Cy Young voting four times, found his way into the bullpen by way of a 5.12 ERA and elbow problems. The Cardinals struggled to find traction, finishing the first half worse than .500. But they had a 14-6 record in September, had won four in a row and entered Saturday’s game only 11/2 games back of the second NL wild-card spot.