"Forget the 21 successive quality starts at home. Or the flawless 6-0 record at Busch Stadium.

The first thing St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright wanted to talk about Monday night following the Cardinals' 9-3 win over Seattle was his hitting prowess.

He might be one of the hottest pitchers in the National League but he still remains genuinely proud of his batting stroke.

"I've been feeling good lately," he said. "I'm starting to see the ball better, put better swings on it."

Wainwright went 1-for-3 at the plate against Seattle with a second-inning double, a walk and a hard-hit line drive out to left. A career .226 hitter, Wainwright has pushed his average to .132 following a dismal 2-for-24 start at the plate that had him embarrassed. He went six straight games without a hit.

"I started off so bad," he said. "I know I'm a better hitter than the way I was hitting earlier on."

He's not bad on the mound either.

Wainwright, now 9-4 with a 2.41 ERA, overcame a rough start to finish with a flourish on Monday. He have up three hits to the first five batters he faced - including a leadoff homer to Ichiro Suzuki - before allowing just one hit over the next six innings. He left the game two batters into the eighth inning and gave up just six hits and three earned runs on the night. He struck out six and walked one.

Most importantly, he bounced back from a rough beginning to give his hitters a chance to get back into the game.

Ryan Ludwick did just that with a three-run homer in the first off Seattle starter Luke French. The round-tripper was the fourth in seven games for the Ludwick, who put his team in front to stay 3-2.

"Huge, it swung the momentum right back," Wainwright said. "When you get that momentum back you've got to bounce back and get that shut down inning.""