In addition to the cutter, sinker, and four-seam, Wainwright wanted a fourth look to give the hitter before the curve. Enter the split. In the most famous at-bat of his career, Wainwright started with a changeup to Carlos Beltran before winning the 2006 pennant with a curve. Since, the changeup has been benched for misbehavior. Wainwright called it “blah.” When he returned from the disabled list this past fall to reassert his place as a starter with the Cardinals, he threw the changeup 1.32 percent of the time. One might have been an accident.

He leaned heavily on his elite curveball and threw it 38 percent of the time. In his six shutout innings against the Dodgers in September, he threw 37 curveballs. In 2018, his curveball rate spiked to 36.85 percent. It had never been more than 28 percent.

A changeup would add another look, or “doubt” for a hitter, as Shildt said.

Unhappy with his dead-fish grip on the changeup, this past week Wainwright tried a split-finger grip he learned from John Smoltz in 2003. He told Wieters he wanted to try it in the game to see when, where, and how fast he needed to throw it to work.

Castellanos struck out on the first one he threw.

Another spiked shy of home plate.