Jeff Curry, USA TODAY SPORTS
The St. Louis Cardinals got a win on Saturday, but they may have suffered a huge loss in the process.
St. Louis beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 at Miller Park on Saturday, but starting pitcher Adam Wainwright went down with a leg injury in the fifth inning, and it didn’t look good. The early speculation was that it was either an ankle or Achilles’ heel injury for Wainwright, who is the staff ace for Mike Matheny and his team.
Wainwright was a 20-game winner last season and has won at least 14 games in each of the last five seasons for St. Louis. Last season, he had a 2.38 ERA, and he was off to an even better start this season, with an ERA of 1.71 through three starts.
The Cardinals do have depth in their pitching staff, but they don’t have another Adam Wainwright on the roster. And with Jaime Garcia already on the disabled list, this just makes the pitching staff a little thinner.
St. Louis will rely on Michael Wacha, John Lackey and Lance Lynn to carry the load, and they will hope that the injury to Wainwright is not severe. But if it is, the Cardinals may be forced to make some type of move to add a starting pitcher to somehow compensate for the loss of Wainwright.
The Cardinals are annually in the playoffs, as they have been the dominant team in the National League Central Division for a number of years. But if Adam Wainwright is out for an extended period of time, the other teams in the division may finally have a chance to top St. Louis.
Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
