St. LOUIS — A roar from the rest of the Busch Stadium crowd began when the 6-foot-7 pinch-hitter touched the top step of the dugout, and the noise reached a crescendo when Adam Wainwright – wearing batting gloves and swinging a bat instead of holding a curveball — entered the batter’s box.
Naturally, Wainwright did the same thing he did 17 years ago by taking a hard hit on the first pitch he saw. However, unlike on May 24, 2006, when Wainwright became one of 31 players in MLB history to homer on the first pitch he saw, this time, he fouled it back. And the crowd of 38,964 on hand Friday night to celebrate Wainwright all week before his retirement didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
The at-bat ended with Wainwright grounding out hard to second. Wainwright, who will retire Sunday after 200 pitching wins, a 2006 World Series victory and 18 seasons as a Cardinal, is still relishing the 102.1 mph grounder that will undoubtedly become the Cardinals’ most memorable moment in 19 -2 losses to rival Reds.
Afterwards, Wainwright was late to his dressing stall because he was selected for a random drug screening.
“Well, that’s what happens when you hit the ball 102 [mph],” Wainwright joked.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wainwright’s appearance was just the fourth time in the DH era that a pitcher has been used to pinch-hit for a DH. The last time this happened was in 2015, when Joe Ross hit the Nationals. On Friday, Wainwright hit for 6-foot-4, 280-pound rookie Luken Baker, who has two career home runs.
“How many homers in the league can there be? [Baker] have?” joked Wainwright, who has 10 career long balls to his credit. “That’s what I always tell our young guys. When [Lars] Nootbaar and [Andrew Knizner] hit their 11th home run, they said it was one of the highlights of their life because I couldn’t tell them, ‘Hey, how many big league homers do you have? Oh, I think they’re going to let you play now instead of me.’”
With the Cardinals suffering their worst loss to the Reds since a 19-1 loss on August 12, 1882, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, manager Oliver Marmol went to the clubhouse in the middle of middle of the sixth inning and talked to Wainwright about hitting that inning. The pitcher had been eager for another at-bat for months, even pulling Marmol on stage in January during his country concert and promising the crowd that the veteran pitcher would get more opportunities to pitch. hit
Even though he didn’t get hit, Wainwright said the whole scene — hiding in the tunnel, coming out of the dugout to cheer and hit a rocket to second base — was like a dream.
“Oli came in and said, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next two days, so let’s just do it now,'” Wainwright recalled. “I said, ‘You mean, like today?’
“That was probably one of the funnest feelings I’ve ever had. I hope we win the game, obviously, but I miss doing that because I never thought I could do it again.
Earlier in the day, Wainwright put on a show for jubilant fans lining the warning track and teammates gathered around the batting cage by smashing three batting practice homers. He had no problem driving the ball out of the park even though it was the first time he had taken batting practice in the field since 2021.
“It was a little bit better than I thought it was going to be and it came back to me a lot easier,” Wainwright said. “I still can’t shoot my backside well. So there is a little more in the tank, but the hands are still working.
Just two weeks after winning his 200th game at Busch Stadium, Wainwright will perform a three-song country music concert after Saturday’s game. He spent most of Friday morning rehearsing for the set he’ll play for many of the same fans who heard him belt out the national anthem on Opening Day. Wainwright’s first album is scheduled to be released in early 2024, he said.
Asked what was more nerve-wracking — hitting for the first time in years or singing to the crowd — Wainwright leaned toward the latter.
“If I miss it, you know it’s totally nerve-wracking because we missed this thing,” Wainwright said after batting practice. “I think we will do everything well. It’s fun, I know that. “