Wainwright, Arenado lead Cardinals to 10-0 romp over Royals
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic, second form left, is joined on the mound by his teammates and pitching coach Cal Eldred, right, during the first inning of a baseball against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, May 4, 2022 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, Nolan Arenado hit a three-run shot and finished with five RBIs, and the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Kansas City Royals 10-0 on Wednesday to take their four-game season series.
Wainwright (3-3) allowed just a one-out single to Michael Taylor in the third against the weak-hitting Royals, whose only other baserunners against the 40-year-old right-hander came on a fielder’s choice, an error and a walk.
Tyler O’Neill hit a two-run homer for St. Louis and finished with three RBIs, one of them coming against struggling Royals starter Kris Bubic (0-3), who retired just one batter before he was pulled after 24 pitches.
Teaming up for the 310th time, Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina tied the Braves’ Warren Spahn and Del Crandall for the most team wins by starting battery mates with their 202nd together. Wainwright and Molina need just six more starts to match Spahn and Crandall for second in history behind Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Tigers.
The final scheduled game between the cross-state rivals this year was moved from a night game to the afternoon because of the threat of rain, though sprinkles still fell on the sparse Kauffman Stadium crowd midway through it.
By that point, the few fans still in their seats were mostly wearing red.
It took a mere 17 pitches from Bubic for Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt to work leadoff walks and Arenado to turn on a 2-1 pitch, depositing it 410 feet away in the left-field stands and giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
The three runs were more than they had scored against Kansas City the past two games combined.
Albert Pujols, who brashly proclaimed pregame that “I’m going to do some damage today,” promptly flied out. But the rest of the St. Louis lineup kept on wrecking: Juan Yepez blooped a single to right for his first big league hit, O’Neill drove him in with a triple and Harrison Bader provided a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 before the Royals had a turn to bat.
