4 takeaways as Cardinals avoid sweep by Padres

Cardinals starters keep the team in games but still struggle

Miles Mikolas lost but still looked better Wednesday. Mikolas main problem was that he was going up against Blake Snell who had a no-hitter through seven innings.

Mikolas pitched six innings, giving up three hits, two walks, and one run. He struck out six batters. Jake Woodford and Jojo Romero had clean innings of relief.

On Thursday, Jack Flaherty had his best start in a couple of seasons. He earned the win after going six innings, giving up four hits, four walks, and two earned runs, including a homer to Jurickson Profar to leadoff.

When the Cardinals were down in the game, the number of hits Flaherty gave up was frustrating, with the lone home run bringing fans a sense of dread felt during the whole series.

The outing was another notch to show how far Flaherty has come and is something he can build on as the Cardinals head to October.

Steven Matz pitched a clean seventh inning. Ryan Helsley attempted to make things interesting in his inning of work. He struck out one and walked one but did give up a home run to Manny Machado.  Giovanny Gallegos earned his 14th save as he pitched the ninth inning, striking out a batter.