The St. Louis Cardinals picked up an important win against the Marlins on Thursday after dropping the first two of the series.
In what should have been an easy home stand, the St. Louis Cardinals fell flat on their faces. They struggled both offensively and defensively, and gave up 18 runs in two games to a team averaging just 3.51 R/G. It was a mess all around, topped off by young shortstop Yairo Munoz and his three errors in the second game.
Luckily, Miles Mikolas was able to continue his surprising reliability this season, allowing just three hits and one walk over seven innings. His ERA now sits at a pretty 2.27, which only trails Jacob DeGrom and Matt Scherzer in the NL.
Mikolas did allow one run, but only off of a Dexter Fowler error. Fowler dropped an easy fly ball from Starlin Castro, and Justin Bour drove a curveball for an RBI double two pitches later. It wasn’t a problem though, as Mikolas was able to get out of the inning without letting the Marlins muster anything else.
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The offense was jump started early by Tommy Pham, who was able to pick up a single on a seven pitch at-bat after falling behind 0-2. This was followed up by a Jose Martinez home run, which ended up being plenty of cushion for a dominant Mikolas. The shot was Martinez’s sixth of the year.
The Cardinals would end up scoring again in the sixth inning off of a couple of hard hit singles by Pham, Martinez, and Marcel Ozuna. On top of that, Luke Voit made the most of his surprise appearance in the seventh by slapping a homer off of Adam Conley.
With a three run cushion behind them, Jordan Hicks came in and held down the fort in the eighth, while Bud Norris finished off the win and picked up the save.
Players of the Game
The St. Louis Cardinals follow this game with another series that they should be able to win: a three game road trip to Cincinnati.
Was this game an important step towards key players rebounding? How long will Mikolas remain as dominant as he’s been? Will Fowler get out of his slump and win the hearts of Cardinals fans? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.