Cards' Adam Wainwright wins 200th game with gem vs. Brewers - ESPN

ST. LOUIS — With his final season winding down, Adam Wainwright was stuck on 198 wins for nearly three months.

And then in a span of seven days, he found that old form and reached a major milestone.

Wainwright earned his 200th win, pitching seven innings of four-hit ball in a vintage performance as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 on Monday night.

«For at least a night I was a real pitcher out there, the guy that I want to be,» said Wainwright, who plans to retire after the season. «Seven innings, shutout, a couple of hits, got through a couple of tough ABs out there and made adjustments, worked in and out, up and down.»

It was the longest outing this season for the 42-year-old Wainwright (5-11), who struck out three and walked two. He has won consecutive starts — both against first-place teams — after going 0-10 with a 10.72 ERA over his previous 11 games between June 24 and Sept. 7.

«That's as good as we've seen,» Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. «If you talked to him right before the game, and if he's being really honest, he was being held up by duct tape before the game started, and for him to go out there and do what he did is highly impressive.»

The right-hander became the 38th pitcher in National League history to reach 200 wins, and the 24th major leaguer to achieve the milestone since 2000.

He's the third pitcher in Cardinals history to reach 200 wins (Bob Gibson, Jesse Haines). And he's the fifth active pitcher to reach the mark (Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw); Johnny Cueto (144) and Gerrit Cole (143) are next on the wins list.

Wainwright said the feeling was comparable to his emotions while closing out the 2006 World Series as a rookie reliever.

«Tonig