St. Louis Cardinals: Mikolas shines in dominant win

The St. Louis Cardinals started off their series with the Royals with a bang and then some.

The St. Louis Cardinals faced off against the cross state Kansas CIty Royals last night in the first of a three game set. Miles Mikolas took the mound for the Redbirds as Ian Kennedy looked to shut down the Cardinals offense. While the offense did their part, Mikolas stole the show in the 6-0 win.

Mikolas looked on point to start the game. After striking out the Royals first two batters, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez hit back to back singles and the Royals found themselves in scoring position early. Mikolas shut that thought down quickly striking out Whit Merrifield to end the inning.

The two hits Mikolas allowed in the first were half of the hits he would allow in the game. The other two would come in the third. From then on Mikolas did not allow another hit while cruising to a complete game shutout, all the while striking out nine batters on his way to the win.

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While Mikolas was the star, the offense came through to support their starter. Tyler O’Neil continued his strong start, hitting a home run in his third straight game and tossing in an RBI double to go with it. Matt Carpenter continued his hot streak, going 3-4 with an RBI and bringing his average above .200 for the first time since the beginning of April.

Even Marcell Ozuna got in on the action. The struggling left fielder went 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. Unfortunately the rest of the offense didn’t do all that much. Thanks to Mikolas though, any run support would have been more than enough.

Look for Tommy Pham to potentially get a day off today as he goes 0-4 with four strikeouts. He is now hitless in his last two games with six strikeouts. A routine day off may be just what he needs. It also gives the team the opportunity to keep Tyler O’Neil in the lineup.

Next: Move these Cardinals

The Cardinals will look to take the second game of the series tonight at 7:15PM CST. Michael Wacha and his 3.08 ERA will look to continue to stifle the Royals offense. While Jake Junis will take the mound for the Royals as they look to even up the series.