Cardinals 11 - 4 Diamondbacks
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Apr 27, 2016 - 6:10 AM Adam Wainwright probably didn't think he would be searching for silver linings in late April, but he settled for one in his last start.

He is still seeking his first win in over a year.

The right-hander will try to get on track while helping the St. Louis Cardinals to their fourth win in five games in Wednesday night's visit to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wainwright (0-3, 7.25 ERA) missed most of 2015 with a torn left Achilles before pitching out of the bullpen in the NLDS. He was the opening day starter for the Cardinals (11-9) this season but hasn't held the form he featured previously.

He's coughed up 18 runs and 29 hits in 22 1/3 innings while walking 10 and striking out nine, and his 1.75 WHIP and .326 batting average against are well above his career marks of 1.17 and .244.

Wainwright already has three losses, one third of the defeats he finished with in both 2013 and 2014 when he won a combined 39 games. He hasn't won since last April 19, six days before he suffered the Achilles injury.

However, Wainwright found some positives from Friday's 4-1 loss at San Diego. Again without his best stuff, he held the Padres to three runs in six innings.

It was a huge improvement from six days earlier when Wainwright was pounded for seven runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 9-8 loss to Cincinnati.

"They beat me and I'm getting tired of losing, I know that,'' he told the team's official website. "So I'm just going to keep grinding, keep working. But that start right there is miles ahead of my last start, so that is how I'm going to look at it.''

History says a matchup against Arizona (11-11) should help. Tuesday's 8-2 win was St. Louis' 14th in the last 16 meetings, and the Cardinals have won six of seven at Chase Field.

Wainwright is 6-3 with a 2.15 ERA in nine starts against the Diamondbacks. However, he will have to face a pair of players who have had success against him with other teams, Jean Segura (8 for 19 with a home run) and Welington Castillo (7 for 20 with three doubles). Paul Goldschmidt is 3 for 9 with a homer in the matchup.

A St. Louis lineup that has pounded out 52 hits and 34 runs while winning three of four will face left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-2, 3.51).

St. Louis crushed Arizona's top two starters, Zack Greinke and former Cardinal Shelby Miller, while splitting the opening two of this four-game set. The two were tagged for 12 runs in 11 2/3 innings, raising Arizona's ERA at home to 6.43 - the second-worst in the majors to Colorado's 7.27.

Brandon Moss and Stephen Piscotty homered Tuesday as St. Louis dropped Arizona to 4-8 at Chase Field.

Corbin was roughed up in Friday's 8-7 home loss to Pittsburgh, surrendering seven hits - three of them home runs - while giving up four earned runs in six innings.

"I just missed some spots early and was not very good," Corbin said. "I didn't have my best stuff. Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Corbin also gave up three homers in his first start at home. He has a 5.54 ERA in two outings at Chase Field compared to 1.42 in two on the road.






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