3 ugly moments in St. Louis Cardinals series with Cubs

ST. LOUIS, MO - JUNE 25: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 25, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - JUNE 25: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 25, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
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ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 25: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 25, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 25: Starter Miles Mikolas #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 25, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

The Cardinals had a horrible, no-good series against the Cubs, only managing to get one win in the three-game series.

The St. Louis Cardinals did not have a good weekend series with the Chicago Cubs. They looked terrible, only winning one game in a three-game set against the Cubs. The Cubs.

The Cardinals lost Friday 3-0. They won Saturday 5-3. The Cardinals lost Sunday 6-5.

The team is now 41-34 and a game back in the NL Central standings behind the Milwaukee Brewers. Next up for the Cardinals will be the Miami Marlins who are riding high after a walk-off win against the New York Mets.

Let’s take a look at what happened in this series for the Cardinals.

The team looked great on Saturday. Somehow!

Mikolas shines as the team hits

Miles Mikolas looked dominant as he pitched six innings, giving up four hits, one walk, and an earned run. He struck out nine batters and induced 10 swings and misses. That dominant performance was for not as Giovanny Gallegos earned his fourth blown save of the season. He pitched 1.1 innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs, including a homer. to Rafael Ortega. He struck out two.

Ryan Helsley got his third win of the season as he pitched 1.2 innings, giving up a hit and two walks while striking out two batters.

Brendan Donovan got things going in the first inning, singling to left field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

In the sixth inning, Dylan Carlson doubled on a liner to right field, scoring Arenado. In the eighth inning, Ivan Herrera knocked a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Edmundo Sosa. Later that inning, Tommy Edman singled to center field, scoring Harrison Bader.

Arenado was 3-for-4 with two runs on Saturday, while Goldschmidt was 2-for-4 with a run. The team was 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The team left nine runners on base.

Imagine if they had brought those runners in.

ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 24: Starter Andre Pallante #53 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 24, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 24: Starter Andre Pallante #53 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 24, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

Pallante looks off as hitters flummoxed by Hendricks

Andre Pallante looked uncomfortable in his start Friday, while the Cardinals bats could not figure out Kyle Hendricks.

Hendricks pitched 7.1 innings, giving up five hits, a walk, and struck out six batters.  He did induce 11 swings and misses. Tommy Edman, Brendan Donovan, Juan Yepez, Dylan Carlson, and Harrison Bader all had hits but nothing came from them. The Cardinals were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring positions while the team also left six runners on base.

The team just looked lost at the plate. Getting those runners left on base across the plate would have helped in making the 3-0 loss to the Cubs a little interesting and possibly changed their fortune.

Pallante looked uncomfortable pitching in some oppressive heat. Pallante, now 2-3,  pitched six innings giving up seven hits, three walks, and three runs including a home run to Nico Hoerner in the second inning. He did strike out two and induce six swings and misses. Junior Fernandez pitched an inning, striking out one. Nick Wittgren pitched two innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.

ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 26: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 26, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 26: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 26, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

Jack Flaherty’s outing

Jack Flaherty’s mantra has always been “Don’t Think.” The Cardinals pitcher was definitely doing a lot of thinking in his two innings of work Sunday as he just looked out of sync. In those two innings, he gave up a hit and two walks, while striking out two and inducing five swings and misses.

The final out of his second inning of work was outstanding. After getting Christopher Morel to strike out, he was able to get Rafael Ortega to ground out to second baseman Nolan Gorman to Paul Goldschmidt.

Flaherty left the game after the second inning with right shoulder tightness. This is just disappointing news. After the game, manager Oli Marmol told the media that Flaherty was experiencing a dead arm sensation.

While the team said they are being cautionary, it remains concerning considering his past issues with this arm. The starting rotation desperately needed him back at full strength. It seems the team can not just hope for a miracle now as they have been known to do. They must get some additional help. Immediately!

ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 26: Paul Goldschmidt #46 of the St. Louis Cardinals runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 26, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JUNE 26: Paul Goldschmidt #46 of the St. Louis Cardinals runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on June 26, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images) /

Sunday’s Game

The Cardinals looked great at the plate in Sunday’s game. And then, when it mattered, they didn’t.

Nolan Arenado singled to left field in the first inning, to score Brendan Donovan. In the second, Tommy Edman grounded into a force-out, scoring Dylan Carlson.

In the third inning, the Cardinals unleashed their bats. Brendan Donovan knocked his second home run of the season to right field. The blast traveled 359 feet at 101.8 mph. Paul Goldschmidt knocked his 18th homer of the year on a liner to left field. Goldy’s blast went 412 feet at 108.3 mph. Juan Yepez knocked his seventh homer of the year on a fly to left field. Yepez’s homer traveled 417 feet at a staggering 112.1 mph.

And that was it. While that’s been enough sometimes. But not Sunday.

Nick Wittgren pitched the third inning, giving up four hits and four earned runs. He did strike out one. Johan Oviedo made his first blown save of the season after 1.2 innings of work, he gave up three hits and one earned run. He did strike out one.

Packy Naughton and Junior Fernandez tried to hold things down through three innings.

Zack Thompson pitched 1.2 innings. He took care of the ninth inning and things went awry in the tenth. With Nelson Velazquez on board as the tenth inning runner to start the inning, Willson Contrerea singled to right field allowing the running run to score in Velazquez.

The Cardinals were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. That wasn’t very reassuring. The team could have pulled off an energizing victory but instead is left wanting. It’s apparent the team needs a jolt of some sort.

Hopefully, they find that jolt against the Marlins.

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