Good evening from Busch Stadium, and though the game has been over for 30 minutes, I believe the Cardinals just scored two more runs.

Despite the festival of STL offense, the highlight of the 18-3 rout of the Braves was the return, and the performance, of starting pitcher Adam Wainwright.

Making his first start since June 7, Wainwright was simply fantastic, allowing only one run and five hits in six innings.

Waino’s efficiency was surprising, considering his long layoff due to the injury to the middle finger on his pitching finger. He’d had only three rehab stints in the minors before jumping onto the mound at Busch for live MLB action.

Wainwright needed only 72 pitches to breeze through the six innings. And it was actually better than that, considering that he threw 11 pitches to the first two ATL batters who led off the game. (The second batter walked). That means Wainwright needed only 61 pitches to get the final 17 outs in his Friday-night shift.

Wainwright had the Braves spinning.

On one hand, Wainwright notched outs quickly — recording seven outs that required three pitches or fewer.

Those quick ABs that end in outs are a pitcher’s pal.

On the other hand, Wainwright had the Braves looking for something that they never found.

He’s one of the best pitchers in the National League at getting called strikes, and the Braves went under Wainwright’s spell on Friday.

Of his 72 pitches, Wainwright got called strikes 14 times. Atlanta’s best hitter, Chipper Jones, watched five called strikes go by. Eight of the 14 called strikes were fastballs; three were changeups. There were two curves, and a slider.

This season Wainwright has finessed the hitters for called strikes at a rate of 19.8 percent of his total pitch count (1,365.)

According to STATS, in the NL only the Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse (20.9 %) and Philly’s Brett Myers (20.3 %) have a higher called-strike rate.

It’s just remarkable that Wainwright could pick up a baseball after being away for more than two months and be so sharp, so on top of his game.

Or maybe it isn’t so remarkable. The dude is a pretty special pitcher, and his return comes at a crucial time, with the team trying to move closee to the Brewers and make a run that will land them in the postseason tournament.

Since last May 22, Wainwright is 18-12 with a 2.99 ERA.

***

Next up:

Let’s update the hitting contest between Albert Pujols and the Braves’ C. Jones.

Chipper came into the series with a 12-point lead over Pujols in the race for the NL batting title. Jones was leading the league with a .360 BA, and Pujols was second at .348.

But Pujols went 3 for 3 and made up some ground on Jones, who was 1 for 4.

Jones’ lead over AP is down to six points, .359 to .353.

You have to like Albert chances, considering that Jones is batting .262 in his last 84 ABs.

Pujols is catching up in a hurry.

On July 6, Jones had a 38-point lead on Pujols — .388 to .350.

Now that margin is down to six points.

And Pujols also moved ahead of Jones to move into the No. 1 spot in NL onbase percentage. Jones was ahead by six points as the series began, but after Friday’s game Pujols is up .461 to .460.

Have a nice weekend.

I’ll be off Saturday, but will yap at you again Sunday….

-B