4 duds from Cardinals series loss to the Astros

Dud - Miles Mikolas

Something is just not clicking for Mikolas.

Mikolas pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two hits and three walks. He did strike out four batters. Mikolas also gave up five runs. Kyle Tucker got the Astros on the board Wednesday with a double to right field, scoring Jose Altuve. Jose Abreu knocked a sacrifice fly to score Alex Bregman. Jeremy Peña hit a single to right field, scoring Kyle Tucker.

Martin Maldonado doubled on a fly to center field in the sixth inning, scoring Bligh Madris and Jake Meyers.

Mikolas was in the lead when he was removed from the game and got a no-decision on his effort.

Dud - Giovanny Gallegos

Bringing in Gallegos after pitching the night before never seems a good idea. On Tuesday night, he pitched a clean 1.1 innings. On Wednesday, Gallegos looked like a completely different player.

Gallegos was brought into the game in the eighth inning, replacing Chris Stratton, who pitched a clean seventh inning, even striking out Jeremy Pena.

Gallegos gave up a single to Bligh Madris. He walked Jake Meyers. Maldanado hit a sacrifice fly to Goldschmidt, moving Madris and Meyers up on the base path. With two runners on, Jake Altuve knocked a fly ball home run to left field, scoring Madris and Meyers.

Alex Bregman then popped out. Kyle Rucker knocked a ground-rule double to right center field. Jose Abreu then hit a home run to center field, scoring Tucker.

This isn't the first time that Gallegos has given up a home run only to give up another one later that inning. According to MLB.com's John Denton, this was Gallegos's third multi-home run effort of the season. It was the 16th blown save of this season for the Cardinals, who only had 17 blown saves in 2022.