3 takeaways from the Cardinals' final series with the Brewers

Mikolas, Thompson find their form

We'll start things out on a positive note here. One thing that was very encouraging to see was the resurgence of both Miles Mikolas and Zack Thompson. Mikolas especially had been struggling lately. He had made three consecutive starts in which he allowed five or more runs. Not this time.

He drew the start in the series opener against the Brew Crew. He ran into some trouble in the third inning, but he worked around it and went seven innings, striking out five and walking just two as he allowed only one run. He earned his eighth win of the year in the process.

The Cardinals didn't win on Wednesday night, but Zack Thompson looked more like the guy who went seven innings against the Pirates earlier this month.

In his past three starts, he hadn't made it past five innings, and he had also allowed four runs in two of those starts. This time, he pitched past the fifth inning and only allowed two Brewers runs to score. In 5.1 innings, he struck out five batters and walked just one while scattering five hits.

Sadly, the bullpen let the game slip away, and Thompson wasn't rewarded for his solid effort, but it is still encouraging that he and Mikolas appear to have found their form, and it was a good way for the left-hander to close out the season.