Adam Wainwright’s curious September is among them.
The Cardinals’ veteran right-hander and presumptive rotation leader going into the playoffs struggled through another grinding, laborious start, his fifth of this month. Wainwright pitched a season-low three innings and allowed four runs on six hits. All of his fastballs – from the sinker to the cutter – sagged beneath their season average in velocity, and the right-hander did not have a clean inning against the Dodgers.
The runs he allowed were all of the runs LA got as the Cardinals’ bullpen pitched six shutout innings for an offense that never arrived.