Make it Wain: Cards ace leads HR barrage

ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright never welcomed being the example for the universal designated hitter advocates, who quickly pointed to the Achilles injury he suffered breaking from the batters’ box last April as another reason why pitchers didn’t need to hit.

Despite the injury, Wainwright would retort, he had no interest in giving up his bat.

Now that bat is carrying Wainwright where his arm hasn’t, which was again the case in Monday’s 10-3 win over the Phillies. His three-run blast was the first of five home runs the Cardinals mustered against Jeremy Hellickson and Brett Oberholtzer, giving the Cardinals their second five-homer game of the season.

Last season, they had none.

“Every time I’ve come to the plate since I was 8 years old I dreamed about hitting a ball like that,” said Wainwright, who hadn’t gone deep since 2012. “I’ve hit some really far homers in Little League or whatever. But I’ve never hit a ball, felt it, and known it was gone. I knew that was going to be a home run.”

Everyone else did, too.

Said his batterymate, Yadier Molina: “I was jumping around here like a little kid.”

“He got all of it,” added manager Mike …

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