September 14, 2022: Cardinals’ Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright set record as batterymates

It was standing room only at Busch Stadium on a pleasant Wednesday night in September 2022—46,459 fans packed the ballpark to see St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and starting pitcher Adam Wainwright make history.1

In Wainwright’s previous appearance, six days earlier against the Washington Nationals, he and Molina had tied the major-league record for starts as batterymates at 324, set in 1975 by Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich and catcher Bill Freehan.2 (In St. Louis, Lolich was best known for nearly singlehandedly beating the Cardinals by winning three games in the 1968 World Series.3) Molina had debuted with the Cardinals in 2004, Wainwright in 2005, and their first start together had been on April 6, 2007.4

There was more on the line than just personal records when St. Louis faced the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals (83-59) were seeking their fourth consecutive postseason berth and 16th in 23 seasons, leading the National League Central Division by seven games over the visiting Brewers (76-66). The Cardinals’ “magic number” to clinch the division was 14, so a win in this second game of a two-game series would reduce that by two. The Brewers, for their part, had pinned their postseason hopes on a wild-card berth.

As the 40-year-old Molina and 41-year-old Wainwright (10-9, 3.33 ERA) took their positions on the field for their 325th start together, the fans rose to cheer, cell phones in hand to record the historic moment. The first pitch, a called strike to Christian Yelich, was taken out of play.

Yelich struck out, but Willy Adames and Rowdy Tellez singled. Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong, who had played eight years for the Cardinals before signing with Milwaukee as a free agent in February 2021, stepped in to applause from the fans. He worked a two-out walk to load the bases. Setting a tone for the game, the three runners were left on base when Andrew McCutchen hit a tapper back to mound.

Corbin Burnes (10-6, 2.93 ERA), the NL’s 2021 Cy Young Award winner, took the mound for the Brewers—who were playing as the “Brew Crew,” according to their uniforms.5 Two strikeouts and a groundout and Burnes was back in the dugout.

The Brewers broke through against Wainwright in the second. Jace Peterson led off with a single, took third on Omar Narváez’s single, and scored on Tyrone Taylor’s sacrifice fly. Yelich’s single and Adames’ fly out gave the Brewers first-and-third for the second time in the inning, but Tellez grounded out with the score 1-0, Brewers. Wainwright’s previous outing against Milwaukee—one run over nine innings in a no-decision on August 13—had been his best start of the season, but his two-inning pitch count was already 51.

Nolan Arenado immediately evened the score, hitting Burnes’ first pitch of the second into the stands for his 29th homer of the season and 298th career blast. Singles by Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson,6 and Molina soon put the Cardinals up by one.

During the inning, the fans, phones in hand again, rose to cheer 42-year-old Albert Pujols. A Cardinal from 2001 through 2011, receiving three NL MVP Awards and playing for two World Series champions, Pujols had returned to St. Louis for the final season of his 22-year career, in pursuit of 700 home runs.7 He had hit 18 in 2022, moving his career total to 697. This time, however, he struck out.8

The Brewers had one baserunner in the third but he was erased on a strike-’em-out-throw-’em-out double play—started by Molina.

All Burnes allowed in the bottom of the third was a walk to Paul Goldschmidt, who was headed for NL MVP honors at the end of the season.

The Brewers loaded the bases again but did not score in the top of the fourth. Wainwright got the first two outs on four pitches, but then allowed two singles and a walk. Tellez hit a deep fly but the park held it for the third out.

Pujols grounded out in the home half of the fourth. Burleson broke his bat, but his fly out was caught just short of the wall. Molina flied out to give Burnes another quick inning.

Wainwright worked a one-two-three inning in the fifth, finishing his outing at 98 pitches. This was his third start in a row pitching only five innings, after averaging more than six innings in 26 starts through August.

Lars Nootbaar led off the home half of the fifth with a bang—a 452-foot home run, the longest of the year in Busch Stadium.9 Corey Dickerson and Goldschmidt followed with one-out singles, triggering a mound visit. Whatever was said worked—Arenado grounded into a double play to get Burnes out of the jam with the score 3-1, Cardinals.

Cardinals relief pitcher Andre Pallante walked Peterson to open the sixth but got the next three outs on 10 pitches.

Pujols came up with one out in the bottom of the sixth. The wave of cheering reached a crescendo as the count went to 3-and-2. Unfortunately for the fans with their phones at the ready, Burnes’ next pitch plunked Pujols on the shoulder, and the cheers changed immediately to boos. Pujols waved off the trainer as he ambled to first. He advanced no farther as Burleson grounded into a double play.

Jordan Hicks was the next reliever out of the Cardinals’ bullpen. He pitched a scoreless seventh. Although a walk and a single put runners on first and third, the Brewers again failed to capitalize—McCutchen struck out.

Molina grounded out to start the home half of the seventh. Nootbaar took second when Wong, a two-time Gold Glove winner as a Cardinal, threw the ball into the camera well. The error proved harmless as Tommy Edman lined out and Dickerson grounded out.

Giovanny Gallegos earned his 10th hold—he made quick work of the bottom of the Brewers’ batting order in the eighth.

Brad Boxberger relieved Burnes to start the bottom of the eighth inning. Goldschmidt blooped one into left. Although no error was charged to the Brewers, any of the three defenders who converged in short left field could have caught the ball, but it dropped between them for a hit.

It turned out not to matter. Goldschmidt was erased on a nifty double play started by center fielder Taylor. Arenado lined out to Taylor and his throw to first caught Goldschmidt since the Cardinals had called a hit-and-run.

Still, St. Louis kept going for an insurance run—with Pujols reaching another milestone on the way. Tyler O’Neill, a defensive replacement for Dickerson in left in the top of the frame, singled to third. That brought up Pujols, who worked the count full and doubled—scoring O’Neill as his 2,200nd career RBI. He joined Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron as the only other players with that many RBIs.10 The Cardinals’ lead was 4-1.

Side-armer Trevor Kelley replaced Boxberger and walked Ben DeLuzio11 (who was making only his fifth major-league plate appearance). Molina grounded out on the next pitch to end the eighth.

Ryan Helsley took the mound in the top of the ninth, looking for his 17th save of the year. He got it—all he allowed was a two-out single by Tellez.

Although both teams had 10 hits, the difference in the game was the Brewers’ inability to take advantage of runners in scoring position—they left 12 on base and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The win reduced the Cardinals’ “magic number” to 12, but most of the fans would remember the day not for the victory, but rather for the historic records set.

It was Wainwright’s 195th career win; he ranked third on the Cardinals’ all-time list after Bob Gibson and Jesse Haines. St. Louis’s TV broadcasters highlighted an important statistic from Wainwright and Molina’s joint careers—Wainwright’s ERA with Molina catching was 3.21, but 4.06 with other catchers.

Although the Cardinals won the NL Central Division, their postseason ended quickly; they lost the wild-card series 2-0 to the eventual NL champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers missed the postseason, finishing at 86-76, seven games behind the Cardinals. Molina indeed retired at the end of the 2022 season, but Wainwright continued pitching in 2023.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play, and watched both teams’ broadcasts on MLB.tv.

Topps Now card from author’s collection.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN202209140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2022/B09140SLN2022.htm

Notes

1 The chance at history had been announced well in advance. Rick Hummel, “Cards Have Plenty to Look Forward To,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 13, 2022: B1.

2 Derrick Goold, “Wainwright, Molina Earn Historic Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 15, 2022: B1. Although Freehan had died in 2021, Lolich was contacted for comment. “Can I say: I don’t know who the hell he [Wainwright] is. I thought (the record) already got broken.” Wainwright admitted “I know absolutely nothing about him or Bill Freehan. We’re worlds apart.” Wainwright was born six years after they set the record.

3 Hummel.

4 Wainwright debuted in 2005, but did not start a game until his first outing in 2007. Molina also caught his second relief appearance, on September 23, 2005.

5 The Brewers were wearing special “City Connect” uniforms in 2022, with “Brew Crew” across the front and a grill logo on the sleeve to represent Milwaukee’s tailgating tradition. Henry Palattella and Adam McCalvy, “Brewers Unveil ‘Brew Crew’ City Connect Uniforms,” mlb.com, June, 17, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/brewers-unveil-city-connect-uniforms.

6 A Cardinals 2020 draft pick, he debuted the previous week as a September call-up. This was only his second hit.

7 John Denton, “Pujols Returns to Cardinals for Final Season,” mlb.com, March 28, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-pujols-cardinals-deal.

8 Spoiler alert—he hit his 700th on September 23 at Dodger Stadium and finished the season with 703.

9 Goold. The “longest home run this year” information was provided in-game by the St. Louis broadcasters Jim Edmonds, Jim Hayes, and Dan McLaughlin.

10 Goold. By the end of the year, and his career, he had 2,218, passing Babe Ruth at 2,214.

11 DeLuzio had taken over in center field in the top of the seventh.