This season is Adam Wainwright's last with the St. Louis Cardinals, as he plans to retire. This gave Cardinals fans a reason to watch the upcoming campaign, even though they fell out of postseason contention. Yet, Wainwright gave the fanbase a vintage performance on Monday night.
Facing the Milwaukee Brewers, Wainwright pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out three batters in the 1-0 victory. This was a special performance for Wainwright, as this was his 200th career win as a starting pitcher, becoming the 122nd pitcher in MLB history to accomplish this.
It had not been an ideal season for Wainwright, but he turned back the clock to add a tremendous accolade to his resume. This comes over four months after Wainwright vowed he would prove fans on Twitter wrong after details of his second rehab assignment were unveiled.
Adam Wainwright proves fans wrong with throwback performance to record 200th career win
Wainwright was in Triple-A Springfield as he worked his way back from a groin strain that sidelined him at the start of the season.
Besides becoming the latest pitcher to record his 200th career win, Wainwright also entered Cardinals history books.
According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Wainwright is now the oldest pitcher to throw a scoreless game in seven innings or more at 42 years and 19 days. The record was previously held by Jim Kaat, who recorded a 10-inning shutout on June 4, 1980, at 41 years and 210 days.
Wainwright spent two stints on the injured list this season, the aforementioned groin strain and a right shoulder strain suffered in early July. Through 21 starts this season, Wainwright recorded a 7.40 ERA, a 1.901 WHIP, 55 strikeouts, and 41 walks over 101.0 innings pitched.
While the season will go down as one of his worst statistically, it had to be great for Cardinals fans to see Wainwright turn back the clock and throw a seven-inning shutout against the rival Brewers on Monday night.
