St. Louis Cardinals: Miles Mikolas leaves first start with injury

In what was his first major league game since the 2019 playoffs, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas left his start with an injury. What will this mean for the team?

On Saturday night at Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas made his season debut against the Chicago Cubs. It was Mikolas’ first time pitching in an MLB game since the 2019 playoffs.

While the start was going well, things turned around quickly.

Mikolas allowed a first-inning run, where he was shaking off some rust. After that, he was cruising. But as he started his warmup tosses before the 5th inning, he exited the game with an apparent injury. The St. Louis Cardinals later announced the injury.

While it’s too soon to say much more about the injury, it seems to be worrying. Mikolas missed all of last season and the first two months of the 2021 season. Regardless, this looks to be a setback. More information will surely be coming in the hours and days ahead.

Whether Mikolas misses a handful of starts or potentially much more than that, the St. Louis Cardinals have the depth. However, with a bullpen that is struggling and getting some heavy usage, a setback in the starting rotation is significant.

It’s not appropriate to make assumptions but I think it is fair to be skeptical regarding the Mikolas injury. If this turns out to be a major setback, the Cardinals will scramble to cover these innings and could possibly put them in the starting pitching market at the trade deadline. That’s getting ahead of things, though. Let’s wait and see what news comes in the next few days.

Regardless, this is not what the St. Louis Cardinals were hoping for. For four innings, Miles Mikolas was really good. A healthy Mikolas is an innings eater in the middle of the starting rotation. If he’s going to be out for a while, this is a significant injury and hurdle for the Cardinals.