The 6th inning was a welcome sight today for Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I felt like I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on the bullpen in my last starts,” said Wacha. “Short outings always put pressure on them. As a starter, you try to get 6-7–as deep as you can into a ballgame. It definitely felt good getting into the 6th.”
After only making it through 4.0 innings in each of his last two starts, and this was just the second time in his last seven that he threw 6.0 innings. Wacha finished with a line of 6 IP, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts as the Cardinals beat Cincinnati 8-2.
The difference was a familiar formula–stay on top of the ball, throw downhill, and attack the bottom of the zone.
“Thought he was great,” stated Mike Matheny. “He did a nice job establishing the bottom of the zone. I think we saw the kind of swing and misses that we were hoping for with the changeup, that seem to come along. And do believe that curve ball has become a much better pitch. He’s using it to steal strikes, he’s also using it to put guys away. And he’s putting a little movement on the fastball.
“I think he’s just adding to his ability and adding to his pitch selection, but it does revolve around that nice, downhill angle that he has that’s unique to him. Not many guys in the league have that.”
“I’m going to use this start and build off of that,” said Wacha. “Continue to work in between starts in the bullpens on continuing to throw downhill and having that command of all the pitches and working them off of each other.”
Quality Start for Wacha - STL Baseball Weekly
(Busch Stadium) The 6th inning was a welcome site today for Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals. "I felt like I've been putting a lot of pressure on the bullpen in my last starts," said Wacha. "Short outings always put pressure on them.