With his complete game on Sunday, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright extended the team’s streak of seven or more innings pitched while allowing two or fewer earned runs to six games, longest since 1986.
With a depleted bullpen as a result of their 20 inning marathon Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals needed Adam Wainwright to go deep into his Sunday night start against the New York Mets on national television.
The 28-year-old right-hander complied, pitching a complete-game victory during which he allowed three runs. Only two were earned due to a second-inning error when Wainwright slipped in the midst of making a throw to first base.
75 of Wainwright’s 107 pitches were strikes. He yielded four hits, two walks and struck out nine. It was his third win without a loss and his season ERA is 1.50.
Further, Wainwright extended the Cardinals current string of seven or more inning starts while allowing two or fewer earned runs to six, a streak he began in his prior outing against Houston last Monday.
That feat was last achieved by Cardinals starters almost a quarter of a century ago, in April of 1986. That rotation was led by Greg Mathews and John Tudor, with two such starts each. Interestingly, St. Louis won only three of the six 1986 contests, while they have taken four of the six in the current run.
The baton is now passed back to Brad Penny, who gets the call in Arizona on Monday night. He yielded just one unearned run in his prior outing against Houston last Wednesday.
Six consecutive starts of seven or more innings and two or fewer earned runs, Cardinals (1986-2010)
| Player | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Greg Mathews | 6/13/1986 (1) | CHC | W 1-0 | GS-9 ,W | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| John Tudor | 6/13/1986 (2) | CHC | L 2-3 | GS-10 | 9.1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Ray Burris | 6/14/1986 | CHC | W 1-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Bob Forsch | 6/15/1986 | CHC | L 3-4 | GS-8 | 7.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Greg Mathews | 6/17/1986 | PIT | W 7-2 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| John Tudor | 6/18/1986 | PIT | L 1-2 | GS-9 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Player | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Adam Wainwright | 4/12/2010 | HOU | W 5-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Brad Penny | 4/14/2010 | HOU | W 2-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Kyle Lohse | 4/15/2010 | HOU | L 1-5 | GS-7 ,L | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Carpenter | 4/16/2010 | NYM | W 4-3 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Jaime Garcia | 4/17/2010 | NYM | L 1-2 | GS-7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Adam Wainwright | 4/18/2010 | NYM | W 4-3 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
Special thanks to Tom Orf for the continuing research.
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