Wainwright said he had talked to veteran counterpart Alex Pietrangelo of the Blues, who were in last place midway through their season but now are in the Stanley Cup Final. The pair determined, Wainwright said, “that the thing you have to do is you have to stay mentally locked in. You have to believe you’re going to come out of it. If you don’t believe that, you won’t come out of it and just dwindle into nothing.
Lefthanded reliever Chasen Shreve, the apparent prime player acquired from the Yankees, flamed out and is plying his trade, unsuccessfully, at Memphis.