ST. LOUIS — If there is to be a fifth player plucked from the Cardinals’ roster and added to next week’s All-Star Game, the sage choice would be starter Miles Mikolas.
A day after he walked the field with some burning sage leaves and fumigated the team’s bat rack with smoke from the plant named for “healing,” Mikolas cleared the air and made his case from the mound. The Cardinals’ right-hander pitched a strong 7 1/3 innings, buying time for the rally and power that came from the bottom of the lineup in a 6-1 victory Monday against Philadelphia at Busch Stadium.
A series that began with two consecutive shutouts and endless questions about the direction of the Cardinals’ offense ended with home runs by Corey Dickerson and Lars Nootbaar – hit presumably with bats that received attention from Mikolas’ herbal remedy.
The Cardinals rallied with six unanswered runs to split the four-game visit from the Phillies and get some traction in a rigorous portion of the schedule.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, away from their ballpark as it preps for next week’s All-Star Game, visit for a midweek three-game series on Tuesday, and there is about to be some roster churn when it comes to the All-Star participants. Monday’s game featured two starters overlooked by the National League: Mikolas and Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola. The Phillies’ right-hander has been an innings brute, carrying 111 1/3 innings into Monday’s start. Like Mikolas, Nola’s 5-7 record misleads a stat line that also includes a 3.15 ERA.
Well, did include a 3.15 ERA.
Mikolas (6-7) ended a personal losing streak of three consecutive decisions while lowering his ERA to 2.62 and sweetening his bid to be added as a replacement pitcher for the All-Star Game. Already named to the NL team in the past week were Paul Goldschmidt as a starter, Albert Pujols, Nolan Arenado, and reliever Ryan Helsley.
The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo homer from Rhys Hoskins, but Mikolas struck out the next two batters and didn’t blink until he had thrown 99 pitches. Even then, he got an out with it. Mikolas allowed the one run and six hits, but he didn’t complicate his outing with any walks. He struck out five, three in the first inning.
While Mikolas unplugged the Phillies by getting two double plays that erased leadoff singles, Nola had two innings crater on him. Three singles, including one from Dickerson, rallied the Cardinals for the lead in the fifth inning. Dickerson added a two-run homer in the seventh to widen the lead and dent Nola’s season with five runs (all earned) in his seven innings. Nootbaar, a defensive replacement in the top of the eighth, led off the eighth with a solo homer to set the final score.
For both outfielders the homers were their third of the season.
Pujols goes extra to surpass The Man
With his double off the right-field wall in seventh inning, Pujols moved past Cardinals great Stan Musial and into third-place all-time for career extra-base hits.
Pujols’ double, his fourth hit since Sunday morning, gave him 1,378 extra-base hits in his career. When Musial retired, he had the major-league record with 1,377. In the 60 years since, that’s been eclipsed by Hank Aaron (1,477) and Barry Bonds (1,440).
It is not the last Musial milestone Pujols could reach.
When it comes to one of the truest measures of consistent power, Musial ranks behind only Aaron in career total bases. Aaron’s 6,856 is well ahead of Musial’s 6,134, the record when The Man retired. But Pujols is coming into view of Musial with a chance to retire with the second-most total bases all time. The double Monday gave Pujols 6,092 total bases. He’s already only the fourth player in history with more than 6,000 and is now 43 from passing Musial.
Pujols, who a source said will participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby, is four-for-nine since being named as a legacy pick to the All-Star Game.
Corey & Knizner come through in key rally
Their offensive options thinned by injury and illness, the Cardinals started the Monday with the lower third of the lineup being a cluster of batters hitting no better than .183.
That trio included Dickerson, a veteran and former Gold Glove-award winner, who struggled before his injury to provide the power the Cardinals expected from the left side. And, at No. 9, was catcher Andrew Knizner, who has just struggled.
Down by a run entering the fifth inning, Dylan Carlson opened the inning with a single. On a hard groundball from Albert Pujols, Carlson reached second to change the Phillies’ play on the groundout. That put Carlson in scoring position when Dickerson flipped a single to center and brought in the game-tying run. Dickerson, hitting .183 when the game started, advanced to second on the throw home that did not have a shot at Carlson. When Edmundo Sosa, hitting .179 at first pitch, connected for a double, Dickerson scored easily to break the 1-1 tie.
Knizner, batting .178 to start the game, punctuated the back-third rally with a lob single to right field that scored Sosa for a 3-1 lead. The RBI from Knizner was the first by a catcher since he had one at Fenway Park against the Red Sox on June 18.
Replays show Bohm’s out, fingers mangled
After his series of brilliant catches in center at Atlanta, Carlson had a confession to reporters about how he ranks the best catches so far in his career.
He does not keep track.
“I like throwing guys out, honestly,” Carlson said.
Back in the starting lineup after missing the first part of Sunday’s game with a sore knee, Carlson had that chance in the second inning. Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm lined a ball toward left-center field. Carlson intersected with it near the track, and that distance gave Bohm the idea to stretch for second base. Carlson’s throw to second baseman Nolan Gorman was on time and the tag true, getting Bohm just as his left hand hit the base – and his fingers appeared to bend in all sorts of uncomfortable directions, dislocated or busted by the base.
Gorman waved for the Phillies’ trainer to run onto the field even as the Phillies challenged the call at second. Video replay confirmed Bohm was out.
He left the game, cradling his left hand and the injured fingers.
Sure is a hot one today, huh?
A first pitch temperature of 99 degrees at 6:18 p.m. St. Louis time meant Monday’s game was the hottest at Busch Stadium since 2012. On June 25 of that season, the Dodgers and Cardinals played with a first-pitch temp of 102 degrees. Rafael Furcal delivered a walk-off hit in that game – for the Cardinals. The game Monday was not the hottest in St. Louis between the Phillies and the Cardinals. In 2006, the first year of the current Busch Stadium, the Phillies trounced the Cardinals, 16-8, in a game that started with a 101-degree first pitch temp.
