ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright earned his 200th win, pitching seven innings of four-hit ball in a vintage performance as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 on Monday night.
It was the longest outing this season for the 42-year-old Wainwright (5-11), who struck out three and walked two. He has won consecutive starts — both against first-place teams — after going 0-10 with a 10.72 ERA over his previous 11 games between June 24 and Sept. 7.
The right-hander became the 38th pitcher in NL history to reach 200 wins, and the 24th major leaguer to achieve the milestone since 2000.
Willson Contreras homered off Freddy Peralta (12-9) in the fourth. Milwaukee lost its second straight and its magic number to clinch the NL Central remained at seven. The Brewers hold a six-game lead over the Chicago Cubs with 12 to play.
John King induced a double play in the eighth and Ryan Helsley worked 1 1/3 innings for his 12th save in 16 opportunities.
Wainwright got Carlos Santana to ground into a pair of double plays and left to a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,176 after pitching around a leadoff single by Mark Canha in the seventh.
Wainwright’s first strikeout of the game, against Rowdy Tellez, was the 2,200th of his career. His last two punchouts moved him past David Wells for 65th on the all-time list.
Contreras lined a sinker from Peralta just inside the left-field foul pole for his 20th home run of the season.
Peralta gave up four hits in six innings and struck out six.
Sal Frelick had two singles for the Brewers and robbed Tommy Edman of an extra-base hit with a running catch in deep center field. Frelick caught the ball on a full sprint and held on after crashing into the wall.
LOYAL FOLLOWING
St. Louis surpassed 3 million in attendance for the 18th straight season unaffected by limited capacity, and for the 25th time overall.
ROSTER MOVES
The Brewers recalled RHP Colin Rea from Triple-A Nashville, while the Cardinals recalled RHP Jake Woodford from Triple-A Memphis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: OF Christian Yelich (stiff back) missed his third straight game. Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said a decision on Yelich’s status will likely be made Tuesday. The team also placed RHP Thyago Vieira (right calf strain) on the 15-day injured list.
Cardinals: RHP Giovanny Gallegos (rotator cuff tendinitis) was placed on the 15-day IL.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will start LHP Drew Rom (1-2, 5.96 ERA) in the second of a four-game series Tuesday night. Rom earned his first career win in his last start, pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings against Baltimore. The Brewers had not announced a starter.