Adam Wainwright rocked back into his windup, lifted his hands together over his head and rotated his body to deliver his 122nd pitch of the afternoon.
The Cardinals were leading Cleveland, 7-2, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Wainwright, on his 39th birthday, had turned back the clock. Ahead in the count 0–2, he uncorked his signature pitch, a 12–6 curveball, securing the final out on a fly ball that cemented Wainwright’s first complete game in four years. It was Aug. 30, and the Cardinals were playing their 20th game in 15 days following the COVID-19 outbreak that had shut them down for 16 days.