After two consecutive crushing defeats at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals, the St. Louis Cardinals turned to their ace in right-hander Miles Mikolas, hoping to get back into the win column.
True to form, Mikolas played the role of stopper for St. Louis, pitching eight scoreless innings against the Royals and out-dueling veteran Zack Greinke.
In the end, the right-hander allowed just three hits against the Royals, walked only one batter, and struck out 10 as the Cardinals held off their Interstate 70 rivals and won by a final score of 2-1.
On Twitter, the Cardinals posted a graphic featuring Mikolas’ stats from Tuesday’s game.
10 strikeouts? No problem. #STLCards x @ANG_Recruiting pic.twitter.com/n1xiFANv9z
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 31, 2023
The veteran right-hander earned his fourth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.75.
Mikolas is the only Cardinals starter as of now with an ERA below four.
But he gave the Cards eight strong innings and kept the team’s Missouri state rivals at bay.
With the win, St. Louis improved to 25-32 on the season.
They were unable to climb out of last place in the NL Central, but did gain a game on the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, who found themselves on the wrong end of a rout against the Toronto Blue Jays.
But when the Cardinals needed it most, Mikolas delivered a strong performance.
Each of Mikolas’ last four starts have been quality starts, dating back to May 14 at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.
Tuesday night marked yet another impressive performance for the Cardinals ace, who helped the team gain some important ground in the standings.
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The Cardinals Offense Has Shown Significant Regression