September 18, 2023: Adam Wainwright joins Bob Gibson and Jesse Haines with his 200th win with Cardinals

Fueled by the St. Louis Cardinals sidelining him during the National League wild-card series in 2022, longtime rotation mainstay Adam Wainwright was driven to show that he could still pitch.1 The Cardinals believed in the 41-year-old veteran, and the team signed him to a one-year, $17.5 million contract for 2023, which Wainwright declared would be his final season.2

After four straight postseason appearances and 15 consecutive winning seasons, however, the Cardinals plummeted to the franchise’s first losing season since 2007, Wainwright’s first year as a big-league starter. Wainwright began 2023 on the injured list with a groin strain, incurred during a weight-room workout in March.3 In July he went on the injured list again with a right shoulder strain.4

A three-time NL All-Star and four-time top four finisher in the league’s Cy Young Award voting, Wainwright came into 2023 with a 195-117 career record and a 3.38 lifetime ERA. Pitching with what he later revealed was a torn labrum in his right shoulder,5 Wainwright seemed to be on his way to career win number 200 after winning three of his first four decisions. But his next 11 outings yielded 10 losses and a no-decision, as his ERA ballooned to 8.19.

Less than a month remained in the season and hopes for a 200th win were dwindling. But Wainwright snapped his losing streak and picked up his 199th career win at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles on September 12.

His next start was six days later, against the Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis’s Busch Stadium. The Brewers went into the Monday night game leading the NL Central Division with an 84-65 record. The Cardinals were last in the five-team division at 66-83.

Opposing Wainwright and looking to pick up his first career win in St. Louis was 27-year-old right-hander Freddy Peralta. Peralta, who had lost all three of his previous decisions at Busch Stadium, entered this game with a record of 12-8. In his last start, on September 12 against the Miami Marlins, Peralta pitched 6 1/3 innings and struck out nine in a 3-1 win at Milwaukee’s American Family Field.

The starters matched each other with scoreless innings early on. The only Cardinals baserunners in the first three innings were on rookie designated hitter Alec Burleson’s two-out single in the first and rookie right fielder Jordan Walker’s two-out single in the second. In the bottom of the second, Wainwright caught  Rowdy Tellez looking for his 2,200th career strikeout. After striking out Josh Donaldson looking in the third,6 Wainwright fanned Tellez to end the top of the fourth for what proved to be his final career strikeout.

The Cardinals broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning. With two outs, catcher Willson Contreras stepped into the batter’s box. On a 0-and-1 pitch, Peralta hung a pitch over the inside of the strike zone that Contreras lined over the left-field wall for his 20th homer of the season and a 1-0 St. Louis lead.

Wainwright responded by putting up two more scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth. Brewers catcher William Contreras, brother of Willson Contreras, singled with one out in the sixth, but rookie shortstop Masyn Winn turned Carlos Santana’s grounder into a 6-3 double play.

Mark Canha singled up the middle to start the Brewers’ half of the seventh. Willy Adames hit a groundball up the middle, but Winn made a nice play, ranging to his left, and nailed Adames by a step, as Canha moved into scoring position. After Tellez flied out to Walker in right, Canha stole third, moving the potential equalizing run to 90 feet away.

With two outs, the count at 2-and-2, and the Cardinals’ fans on their feet, Donaldson connected on a Wainwright curveball – his 93rd pitch of the night – and drove a long fly ball to center. Lars Nootbaar hustled to the ball and corralled it in front of the warning track to finish the seventh inning.7 It was Wainwright’s longest outing of the 2023 season.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol turned the game over to his bullpen in the eighth. Left-handed reliever John King, acquired from the Texas Rangers at the July 2023 trade deadline for Jordan Montgomery, was the first Cardinals reliever of the game. Andruw Monasterio, pinch-hitting for Brice Turang, singled to left, but was erased when Tyrone Taylor grounded into a double play. After Sal Frelick singled to left, Marmol called on right-handed flamethrower Ryan Helsley to pitch to William Contreras. Contreras worked the count to 1-and-2 but struck out swinging to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, with the crowd antsy to see Wainwright get his 200th win, Helsley remained in the game for the four-out save. Santana worked the count full but struck out looking on a slider over the heart of the plate. Canha grounded out to short, bringing the Busch Stadium faithful to their feet. On a 2-and-1 pitch, Helsley got Adames to get under a fastball at the bottom of the zone and pop out to Tommy Edman at second base to secure Wainwright’s win.

Wainwright had joined Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (251 wins) and Jesse Haines (210 wins) as the only pitchers in Cardinals history with 200 career victories.8 Cardinals coaches and players gave Wainwright high-fives and hugs in the dugout. With the crowd in a celebratory mood, Wainwright walked out of the dugout, tipped his hat to everyone applauding, and addressed the crowd.

“First of all, my wife, Jenny, I love you,” he said. “My kiddos, I love you all so much, but I love this city. I love being a St. Louis Cardinal, and I love that I got to play my whole career here. Thank you all so much for embracing me. I love you all.”9

In the Cardinals’ clubhouse, the team poured champagne to celebrate.

“What you just accomplished, not many people in the game have. For us to be a part of it was pretty cool. The amount of dedication, the sacrifice it takes to do this for as long as you’ve done it is incredible,” said Marmol to Wainwright in front of the Cardinals players and coaches.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Wainwright, “You not only made yourself one of the greatest pitchers to ever wear a Cardinals uniform, but you made everyone else around you better.”

Although it was Wainwright’s last start on the mound, it was not his last appearance of the season. In the Cardinals’ last series of the season, against the Cincinnati Reds, Wainwright received two pinch-hit at-bats, his first since 2021. Wainwright grounded out on September 29 and struck out swinging on October 1.10

In addition to retiring third in franchise history in wins, as of 2025 Wainwright was second only to Gibson in games started (411), strikeouts (2,202), and Wins Above Replacement (41.0).

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Adam Wainwright, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also consulted player biographies in the SABR BioProject and reviewed YouTube videos of the full game highlights by the MLB account and the postgame locker room celebration by the St. Louis Cardinals account.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN202309180.shtml 

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2023/B09180SLN2023.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjg5lSRs9j4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pFfDy8Da8 

Notes

1 Derrick Goold, “One More Year for Wainwright.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 27, 2022: B1.

2 In his last six starts of 2022, Wainwright’s ERA ballooned to 7.22 and he was sent to the bullpen. Wainwright later revealed that his lead foot was 8 to 12 inches short of its landing place. Goold, “One More Year for Wainwright.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 27, 2022: B5

3 John Denton, “Wainwright to Miss ‘Several Weeks’ with Groin Strain,” MLB.com, March 23, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-wainwright-has-groin-strain-and-will-open-2023-season-on-injured-list.

4 “Adam Wainwright and Andrew Knizner Placed on Injured List,” MLB.com, July 5, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-adam-wainwright-and-andrew-knizner-placed-on-injured-list.

5 Curt Bishop, “MLB Rumors: Adam Wainwright Shocking Injury Reveal Finally Explains Cardinals 2023 Struggles,” Fansided.com, October 3, 2023, https://fansided.com/posts/mlb-rumors-adam-wainwright-injury-reveal-cardinals-2023-struggles.

6 Donaldson, the 2015 American League MVP as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, had signed with the Brewers on August 31 after being released by the New York Yankees two days earlier. He retired after the 2023 season, his 13th in the major leagues.

7 The seven innings pitched were Wainwright’s longest outing of the 2023 season.

8 Derrick Goold, “200 For Wainwright!” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 19, 2023: B1.

9 St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals). 2023. “I love this city. I love being a St. Louis Cardinal, and I love that I got to play my whole career here.” And we love you, @UncleCharlie50! #STLCards” X.com, September 18, 2023, 10:24 p.m. https://x.com/Cardinals/status/1703973184775524418.

10 The Cardinals finished 2023 with a 71-91 record. It was the franchise’s worst 162-game regular season since 1990, when they finished in last place of the NL East Division with a 70-92 record. The ’23 Brewers won the NL Central title with a 92-70 record but were eliminated in the NL wild-card round in two games by the eventual pennant-winning Arizona Diamondbacks.