Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright is dealing, outdueling Braves starter Mike Soroka through five innings thus far in Game 3 of the NLDS in St. Louis. Wanwright has held the Braves scoreless on just two hits with no walks and six strikeouts on 79 pitches. Soroka has been quite good himself, allowing one run on one hit with no walks and six strikeouts in five innings.
The Cardinals got their lone run in the second inning. Marcell Ozuna led off with a double to right field, then moved to third base on a Yadier Molina ground out. Matt Carpenter brought Ozuna home with a sacrifice fly to center field, opening the scoring. The game has been 1-0 since.
Wainwright, 38, signed an incentive-laden one-year, $2 million deal with the Cardinals after several years of subpar performance and injuries in his mid-30’s. Wainwright hit all of his performance bonuses, adding an extra $8 million to his salary. During the regular season, the right-hander went 14-10 with a 153/64 K/BB ratio in 171 2/3 innings.
Wainwright is quite the contrast to Soroka, who is 22 years old. Soroka is in the running for the NL Rookie of the Year Award and will likely get some 3rd-5th place Cy Young Award votes as well after going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA and a 142/41 K/BB ratio in 174 2/3 innings of work across 29 regular season starts.