Wainwright serves as staff's workhorse

ST. LOUIS -- Adam Wainwright hit his second homer of the season in his last start. It's on the mound, though, where he really excels at going deep.

The St. Louis Cardinals' 14-game winner has been an extraordinary innings eater. He has worked six or more innings in 23 consecutive starts heading into today's start at Los Angeles, a mark of tenacity for a pitcher best known for getting the final out of the 2006 World Series.

"It's not just stuff, you've got to compete," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "You've got to hang in there, make pitches, keep grinding.

"That's a lot of consecutive, consistent, excellent performances."

Wainwright (14-7) worked seven scoreless innings Friday night to beat the Padres. That's pretty much a typical load, with 15 starts lasting seven or more innings and six extending to eight or longer.

He and Chris Carpenter give the Cardinals a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of one of the league's strongest rotations. Carpenter, the 2005 Cy Young winner, is 12-3 with a 2.27 ERA that's second in the NL. Joel Pineiro is 11-9 with a 3.25 ERA and two shutouts.

Padres manager Bud Black said a mix of curveballs in the low 70s and a fastball around 90 mph kept his team off balance all night in its first at-bats against Wainwright since the 2006 playoffs when he was the stand-in closer for injured Jason Isringhausen.

"We watched him on video, but nothing compares to when you see a pitcher live," Black said. "He was very efficient, no walks and his ball-strike ratio was great."

In each of his last 10 appearances he's allowed two or fewer earned runs, and his 2.62 ERA was fifth-best in the league.

"However many starts during the year you have is how many times you're supposed to do that," Wainwright said. "I missed a couple early in the season, but I've been on a pretty good stretch since then, so I've just got to keep going."

Wainwright kept it rolling even when he wasn't at his best. Early in the season he often struggled with mechanical difficulties. He was the opening day starter and was 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA in his first five starts while working around a whopping 46 baserunners -- 28 hits and 18 walks -- in 29 1/3 innings.

"I hope you've been able to see I'm in a different spot for a long time now," Wainwright said. "I was really battling. Every pitch was a grind, trying to get my arm to the right position, and luckily I was able to do that with guys on base and in big jams.

"After those games, I was mentally exhausted."

Now it's a lot smoother.

"I'm definitely in a place where my mechanics and arm feels great," Wainwright said. "And my defense is playing amazing behind me."

A key to the run is keeping the ball down. Wainwright relied more on strikeouts earlier in the season but had only three to go with a walk-free outing and 15 ground-ball outs in his last outing. The strikeout total was his lowest since May 31, but the bottom line was his only concern.

"You give up fly balls, sometimes they're going to go out of the park," Wainwright said. "I haven't seen it yet, a guy hit a ground ball out of the park."