Hamels betters Wainwright in top pitching duel of season
Cole Hamels couldn’t have begun Thursday’s game much more perfectly, striking out five of the first six batters he faced. He went on to strike out seven of the only 25 batters he faced over eight innings, with only a walk to mar his record.
Hamels tied Johan Santana for the third-best-pitched game against the Cardinals this season by Fielding-Independent Game Score:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | IP | H | BB | SO | HR | BF | FIGS |
| 1 | Carlos Silva | 5/29 | CHC | 7 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 80 |
| 2 | Bud Norris | 5/13 | HOU | 8 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 72 |
| 3 | Cole Hamels | 7/22 | PHI | 8 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 25 | 70 |
| 3 | Johan Santana | 4/17 | NYM | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 26 | 70 |
| 5 | Brandon Morrow | 6/24 | TOR | 8 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 29 | 68 |
| 6 | Hiroki Kuroda | 7/17 | LAD | 6 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 24 | 67 |
| 6 | Brett Myers | 7/10 | HOU | 8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 67 |
| 6 | Barry Zito | 4/24 | SFG | 8 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 28 | 67 |
| 9 | Hiroki Kuroda | 6/8 | LAD | 7 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 25 | 65 |
| 10 | Anibal Sanchez | 5/19 | FLA | 7 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 27 | 64 |
(By the way, the Cardinals figure to miss Carlos Silva, who pitched the best game against them, in their upcoming weekend series with the Cubs.) Although Hamels’s mound counterpart, Adam Wainwright, yielded a few more hits than the Phillie southpaw, Wainwright was nearly as terrific, tossing a 67-FIGS game. His was the fourth-best among Cardinal starts in 2010:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | IP | H | BB | SO | HR | BF | FIGS |
| 1 | Kyle Lohse | 5/1 | STL | 7 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 71 |
| 2 | Adam Wainwright | 6/4 | STL | 9 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 30 | 70 |
| 3 | Chris Carpenter | 5/7 | STL | 7 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 69 |
| 4 | Chris Carpenter | 4/21 | STL | 7 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 27 | 68 |
| 5 | Adam Wainwright | 7/22 | STL | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 23 | 67 |
| 6 | Adam Wainwright | 4/18 | STL | 9 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 33 | 66 |
| 6 | Brad Penny | 4/14 | STL | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 66 |
| 6 | Adam Wainwright | 4/12 | STL | 8 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 29 | 66 |
| 9 | Jaime Garcia | 7/2 | STL | 7 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 24 | 65 |
| 9 | Jaime Garcia | 6/16 | STL | 7 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 27 | 65 |
| 9 | Chris Carpenter | 4/16 | STL | 7 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 27 | 65 |
Together, the Hamels-Wainwright tilt was the best pitching duel in which the Cardinals have been involved this year (defined as the top lower-pitcher FIGS):
| Rk | Date | Player | Tm | FIGS | Player | Tm | FIGS | MIN |
| 1 | 7/22 | Cole Hamels | PHI | 70 | Adam Wainwright | STL | 67 | 67 |
| 2 | 5/25 | Jon Garland | SDP | 63 | Adam Wainwright | STL | 63 | 63 |
| 2 | 6/16 | Jason Vargas | SEA | 63 | Jaime Garcia | STL | 65 | 63 |
| 4 | 4/14 | Brett Myers | HOU | 61 | Brad Penny | STL | 66 | 61 |
| 4 | 4/17 | Johan Santana | NYM | 70 | Jaime Garcia | STL | 61 | 61 |
| 4 | 6/8 | Hiroki Kuroda | LAD | 65 | Chris Carpenter | STL | 61 | 61 |
| 7 | 5/4 | Cole Hamels | PHI | 61 | Adam Wainwright | STL | 60 | 60 |
| 8 | 4/15 | Bud Norris | HOU | 62 | Kyle Lohse | STL | 59 | 59 |
| 8 | 7/17 | Hiroki Kuroda | LAD | 67 | Adam Wainwright | STL | 59 | 59 |
| 10 | 5/8 | Jeff Karstens | PIT | 58 | Jaime Garcia | STL | 59 | 58 |
| 10 | 7/20 | Jamie Moyer | PHI | 58 | Chris Carpenter | STL | 60 | 58 |
We’ll have to see where it ranks among all games in major-league baseball this season.