(KMOX) - On Tuesday night, Adam Wainwright became the first St. Louis Cardinals starting pitching to go a full seven innings this season. And he finished it with a flare, striking out a Washington Nationals batter on his 100th and final pitch of the evening.
He recorded 10 strikeouts, but there's one in particular he made sure to talk about in postgame.
"What I wanted to do today was strikeout (Josh) Harrison because I knew he had a streak going of no punchouts," Wainwright says of the Nats second baseman who had zero strikeouts in his first 30 plate appearances this season.
Harrison has been the league's hottest hitter since his season began about 2 weeks later than everyone else due to a stint on the COVID IL. Since his return on April 12, he's slashing .429/.500/.607.
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But in the bottom of the fifth, Wainwright sat him down on three pitches.
"Johnny Gant and I decided that I was going to strike him out, yesterday, if Jack (Flaherty) didn't," Wainwright says. "And we got him. So, had a good laugh with him as he was walking off the field because he's been really tough on me. He's a great hitter and I love those battles, but I did get him."
He's been pretty darn great against Wainwright in his career, with 14 hits in 36 at bats.
Harrison's no-strikeout streak was tied for the third longest in National's history at 30 plate appearances.
Unfortunately for Wainwright and the Cardinals, the game was won 3-2 by Washington after a poor performance from Giovanny Gallegos who entered in the 8th inning and allowed the game-winning run to score after walking three batters (one intentionally), hitting a batter and giving up one hit.
St. Louis has Carlos Martinez on the mound Wednesday to face Max Scherzer and the Nationals in the rubber match at 3:05 p.m.
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