Adam Wainwright has gotten off to a pretty rough start this season, posting an ERA of 5.77 prior to Tuesday's action.
After Tuesday night's contest against the Padres though, it's safe to say that his ERA will see a nice drop.
Wainwright pitched a shutout against the Padres, throwing just 111 pitches over nine innings while allowing just five baserunners—four hits and one walk. He also struck out nine.
Yonder Alonso, Edinson Volquez, Andy Parrino and pinch-hitter Blake Tekotte recorded the only hits off Wainwright. Parrino's and Volquez's hits went for doubles.
The St. Louis Cardinals won the game 4-0.
This is just his third career shutout, with the other two coming back in 2010—the year he finished second in the NL Cy Young voting.
Any doubts that people had regarding Wainwright's recovery from Tommy John surgery should now be silenced, as it's clear that he is back to his dominant ways.
He remained the only real question mark in the starting rotation until Tuesday's game. The Cardinals have been lucky enough to experience strong starts from Jake Westbrook, Kyle Lohse, Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn.
With Wainwright pitching like the ace everyone expects him to be, the Cardinals have arguably the most formidable rotation in the National League.
It'll be interesting to see what happens when Chris Carpenter is ready to return, but for now, let's celebrate the strong performance by Wainwright.
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