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It was a shame for the Cardinals to waste the exceptional rookie Michael Wacha in four impressive innings of relief work. This extended gig essentially knocked the potentially valuable Wacha out of the Pittsburgh series. Then again, his four-inning stretch could prepare Wacha for a possible start next Tuesday. We’ll see.
Some press box observers believed Wainwright had a problem getting loose during the pregame warmup; he seemingly took some extra time to stretch.
The relevant parties denied this after the game.
The increasingly and bizarrely petulant manager Mike Matheny resorted to spitting out one-word answers and tapping impatiently on the interview podium in a childish response to reasonable postgame questions.
Wainwright — as usual — gave mature, thoughtful, forthright adult answers when asked about his condition.
“I felt fine. What can you say? I pitched terrible and that’s why we lost the game,” he said. “I’ll be ready five days from now.”
This could be nothing more than one really ugly night. Or this could be a sign of distress. Obviously it’s too soon to know.
It’s fair to note that Wainwright’s clunker occurred four days after he threw a season-high 128 pitches in a complete-game victory over the Braves.
Baker wasn't shy about mentioning this angle after the game. The Reds manager helpfully explained that he'd limited his Wednesday starter, Homer Bailey, to a lower pitch count in his most recent start because he wanted his righthander to be fresh against the Cardinals.
As for the Reds' advance assessment of Waino...
“We knew we had a chance," Baker told reporters after the win. "Wainwright had gone 128 pitches the time before, that’s quite a strain on him. That’s why I took Homer out at that point, about 115 pitches. He’s pitching next week against the Cardinals. I didn’t want to be in same situation.”
Isn't that kind of Dusty to offer pitch-count tutorials to Matheny?
Matheny may want to jot down a couple of notes.
Wainwright ranks No. 2 in the NL (behind Clayton Kershaw) for most innings pitched and most pitches thrown this season. Wainwright also leads the NL with five complete games.
According to Baseball Prospectus, Wainwright has the eighth-highest total of “Pitcher Abuse Points” this season.
Wainwright has made 22 starts of more than 100 pitches this year. Four of the 10 highest single-game pitch counts in Wainwright’s career have transpired in 2013.
This is only Wainwright’s second season back from elbow-ligament surgery. In his 2012 comeback Wainwright finished safely down the Pitcher Abuse Points list; ranking 65th. But even then, Wainwright at times struggled with command and stamina.
Presuming that everything is fine, Wainwright’s scheduled start Monday in Cincinnati comes with added intrigue.
Asked if Wainwright’s jacked-up pitch count against the Braves had something to do with what went down Wednesday, Matheny said “nope” and clearly wasn’t interested in discussing the matter.
Wainwright pitched the same conclusion but at least tried to be more illuminating on the subject
“I’m a big, strong man,” he said. “This is what we train for all offseason. And all season long, to be ready for games like this. I felt fine. I felt great.”
