Adam Wainwright gets awesome pinch-hit at-bat during final series of his career

Even at 42 years old, Adam Wainwright is still auditioning for Pitchers Who Rake.

The St. Louis Cardinals veteran pitcher had a tremendous feel-good moment on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. With the game out of reach for the Cards, who were eliminated from playoff contention long ago, Wainwright was inserted in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter. The former World Series champion got a raucous ovation at Busch Stadium as he stepped to the dish.

The video of the awesome moment can be seen below.

Now batting…Adam Wainwright. pic.twitter.com/MZP8qxf2sH

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 30, 2023

Though he would ground out in the at-bat, Wainwright, who is retiring after this season, managed to get a couple of good swings on Reds lefty Brandon Williamson. Not bad at all for a grizzled starting pitcher at the end of his 18th MLB campaign.

Granted, Wainwright began his MLB career in 2005 (over a decade-and-a-half before the universal DH rule went into effect). That means that he has gotten his fair share of plate appearances over the years. Even with the 0-for-1 outing on Friday, Wainwright is 143-for-743 at the dish in his career with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs. You may recall that Waino actually won a Silver Slugger Award in 2017 too after batting .262 with a .731 OPS for St. Louis that year (absolutely Ruthian numbers for any non-Ohtani pitcher).

Wainwright made the last start of his MLB career in a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 18. But Cardinals fans got an added bonus in being able to see Wainwright get his first at-bat in over two calendar years (continuing on St. Louis’ very unusual send-off for Wainwright’s career).