Miles Mikolas becomes first Cardinals pitcher in 21st century to accomplish rare feat

In Miles Mikolas' diminished state as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, it's hard to imagine any unique distinctions bestowed upon him to be positive. In fact, in his start on July 4 on the road against the Chicago Cubs, Mikolas surrendered a whopping six home runs in the first three innings of the game, tying a Cardinals record.

But in the more favorable confines of Busch Stadium, Mikolas has performed effectively, holding a 3.57 ERA at home prior to his latest start on Sept. 2, while he wields a ghastly 6.79 ERA away from St. Louis.

Another strong outing was in the offing for Mikolas in his Sept. 2 start at home against the Athletics, where he pitched six innings and allowed only one earned run on five hits in a game that the Cardinals won 2-1. Throughout the start, he was able to keep hitters off balance and use the Athletics' early-count swings against them, but Mikolas' highlight was in the top of the sixth inning against the meat of the Athletics' lineup, when he set down Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers on one pitch each.

Mikolas' three-pitch inning was the Cardinals' first since 2000.

The last Cardinals pitcher to retire the side on three pitches was right-handed Mike James, according to Baseball Almanac. James achieved the distinction in the ninth inning on April 20, 2000, to close the door on a 14-1 drubbing of the San Diego Padres.

The Athletics have been one of the major leagues' most aggressive teams at the plate this season, swinging at the first pitch 36.4% of the time, trailing only the Houston Astros in that stat. Because of the Athletics' swing-happy mentality and their spot at sixth in MLB in home runs, it looked to be a troublesome matchup for the soft-tossing Mikolas after the Athletics had teed off on Sonny Gray in the previous game. But although Mikolas worked around some hard contact, he succeeded in keeping the opposing bats in check.

The Cardinals are unlikely to offer Mikolas another contract extension in the offseason, and his ugly stats this year will undoubtedly give other teams pause about signing him. If 2025 marks the end of Mikolas' career, he can put one more feather in his cap after having notched the Cardinals' first three-pitch inning since Jack Buck was behind the microphone.