Wainwright, who allowed two earned runs on five hits and a walk across three innings in a 9-5 Grapefruit League loss to the Cardinals on Monday, has been experimenting with a split-finger fastball this spring, Richard Justice of MLB.com reports. "If you're as old as I am, you've got to continue to reinvent the wheel sometimes," Wainwright said. "I'm always looking for that next pitch that's going to win me the [National League] Cy Young [Award]."

EDGE Analysis

Despite the fact Wainwright has 352 major-league appearances under his belt, he's not above trying to expand his repertoire going into his 14th season. The right-hander has been trying to emulate the type of splitter thrown by Hall of Famers Jack Morris and Bruce Sutter, and he deployed it successfully for a strikeout of Nick Castellanos with two men on in the first Monday. Wainwright still ended up throwing more traditional fastballs during his three-inning stint and was disappointed with his location. "My fastball command was terrible today," Wainwright said. "I was just having such a hard time. I just gotta keep going. I commanded my fastball very good the first game. Today, I did the opposite."