Waino: Brief, Batted Around, Bound for Bullpen
MEMPHIS — Cardinals’ righthander Adam Wainwright – no longer rehabbing in a pitching-role limbo – made a swift and not entirely successful appearance in his first start of an assignment with Class AAA Memphis.
He did, however, make one thing more clear than his line: He’s coming back as a reliever.
“I know I’m very close to being able to help in whatever role it may be,” Wainwright said after his 27-pitch outing here tonight. “They’ve pretty much told me they are grooming me down here to pitch in the backend (of games) up there.”
Wainwright got two outs in the first inning from his 27 pitches. He allowed four hits, all of which were line drives or harder. The first four batters he faced reached base, the first three by hits. New Orleans Zephyrs’ No. 3 hitter Chris Aguila ripped a 1-0 fastball for a three-run home run to the sidewalk in front of AutoZone Park’s left-field bluff.
After walking the cleanup hitter on four pitches — all made from the windup — he got the next two batters out. He struck out Ramon Martinez on a full-count cutter.
Wainwright left the inning, and the game, to Blake Hawksworth.
The Cardinals’ righthander is here in Memphis to begin an accelerated rehab assignment, a change in schedule to get him back to the majors as quickly as possibly and into a relief role. Though the Cardinals won’t say it officially, if Wainwright is going to be a reliever, Wainwright is the closer.
Wainwright is recovering from a ruptured pulley in his right middle finger, an injury that has kept him off the mound since he felt it pop throwing a curveball in early June.
The Cardinals pushed his start up a day and will have him throw Monday as well for Memphis. As if further telegraphing the likelihood that Wainwright would return to the majors in a relief role, the Cardinals prescribed only 25 pitches for his first outing.
If the major-league bullpen settles and Wainwright is shifted to starting, he would probably have to strengthen his arm on the job.
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More from AutoZone Park and Wainwright’s start in Saturday’s paper. More from the other Cardinals and could-be Cardinals here in Memphis later tonight on the blog.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Oy.