ST. LOUIS — At the end of the winning streak that was the second-longest in the National League over the past 105 years, the Cardinals could shift their focus to the short-term challenge that confronts them when the postseason starts.
These next few games matter only as much as they keep the Cardinals ready for next week’s wild-card playoff game.
Or, in a few cases, get a Cardinal ready.
Now eight starts removed from the injury list, Miles Mikolas pitched well through the middle of his outing, and the Cardinals got two encouraging outings from relievers Andrew Miller and Jack Flaherty. Their 17-game winning streak ended with a screech Wednesday, losing 4-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. The division-champ Brewers hit two homers late in the game to pull away and halt the Cardinals’ club record winning streak that carried them to the NL’s second wild-card berth.
Within that ending came some beginning glimpses of the bullpen the Cardinals could take into a one-game, do-or-done playoff in California against one of the NL West’s 100-win titans.
Mikolas, who could be held back to start in a division series if the Cardinals advance, allowed three runs on seven hits and did not complete the sixth inning. But he struck out as many on Wednesday (seven) as he did in his previous three starts and 17 2/3 innings combined. Mikolas has described gaining strength and sharpness of his pitches on the job, not unlike a pitcher coming out of spring and tightening his game by the end of April. After Milwaukee got an RBI groundout in the first inning, Mikolas allowed only three baserunners through the next 4 1/3 innings.
He struck out three of the four batters he faced before trouble crept up on him in the sixth and the yielded the mound to a reliever.
Manager Mike Shildt’s choices to follow Mikolas were more compelling than the score at the time.
Before Wednesday’s game, the clubhouse only a few hours removed from a deep cleaning to clear the smell and sogginess of champagne, Shildt talked about the balance of chasing more history with the winning streak and the present mission of putting the best team possible into that one-game playoff. He said the “different looking lineup” would be ready to compete, and that over the four remaining games of the regular season there would be a sprinkling of bench players spelling regulars. He said there’s no reason a subset lineup couldn’t keep the winning streak rolling.
“The lineup we have is going to get after it, guys who are coming off the bench are going to be ready and prepped and take a good at-bat, the guys on the mound are going to pitch their tails off,” Shildt said. “That’s how we got here. By stringing those habits (together) and staying with a foot on the gas.”
The more accurate metaphor is likely that’s in their tank.
As bullpen roles have shifted and settled and swapped throughout the season, veteran Miller has been moved into the middle innings. Newcomer to the bullpen, Flaherty is just exploring how he could contribute to the team giving his limited work since a shoulder strain and no time to build arm strength and start. Miller, once among the most dominant left-handed relievers in the game and a past MVP of a postseason series, has a place in any playoff game — whether it’s a targeted one batter to try and finish an inning or part of early-game scramble to halt an opponent.
He entered Wednesday in that kind of spot. Mikolas had allowed a two-run homer and then a single. The score was sliding away from the Cardinals, and Miller entered with a jam to squash and another inning to cover. He did both. He struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. to end the sixth inning without an inherited runner scoring. Miller allowed a homer in the seventh, and then struck out two batters — including former MVP Christian Yelich.
The eighth belonged to Flaherty.
In the second relief appearance of his career and first in the majors since 2017, Flaherty pitched a scoreless inning. He allowed a hit and a walk and also struck out a batter. He touched 94 mph on his fastball, zipped his slider at 86 mph, and to get the final out of the inning elevated a fastball to get a fly out to deep right field. The Cardinals have called Flaherty’s role “fluid” at the moment. They still have a few days to decide if that is a synonym for a factor in next week’s playoff.
The Cardinals’ best chance to get ahead or get anything against the Brewers came in the first inning, where they had so much success during the winning streak.
The top of the order that had those fast starts, was not the top of the order the Cardinals fielded Wednesday. To get some everyday players rest and continue to help Yadier Molina heal from shoulders soreness, Shildt rewrote most of his lineup. Rookie Lars Nootbaar batted leadoff. Jose Rondon tagged in for Tommy Edman at second base. Dylan Carlson hit third, the spot that Tyler O’Neill has strengthened during the streak, and Matt Carpenter came out of his pinch-hit role for a cameo at cleanup and third base.
In the first inning, the new look lineup had familiar results, almost.
Nootbaar opened the inning with a single. Paul Goldschmidt, one of the few regulars starting the day after clinching, followed with a walk. The Cardinals trailed by a run to start the inning, and already the go-ahead run was one base for the third batter of the inning. Carlson grounded out, but a walk to Carpenter loaded the bases. Harrison Bader, the reigning NL player of the week, hit fifth in Wednesday’s lineup — and in the best chance to overtake the Brewers bounced into a double play.
The Cardinals had a leadoff double from Carlson in the fourth and a leadoff single from Rondon in the fifth but mustered little else against Brewers’ starter Adrian Houser.
The right-hander pitched five shutout innings in his tuneup for the National League Division Series against the team that wins the NL East.
The Brewers avoided a sixth consecutive loss to the second-place team in their division by eventually building on their slim lead. Eduardo Escobar’s RBI groundout turned back-to-back singles earlier in the inning into a 1-0 lead in the first against Mikolas. The Brewers did not score again until the sixth inning when Daniel Vogelbach connected for a home run so far, so obvious that he took a stroll from the box to enjoy its hang time. Vogelbach hit the walk-off grand slam a few weeks ago in Milwaukee against the Cardinals that could have become the technical knockout of the season had it not been for the historic run. The Brewers’ slugging first baseman’s two-run Wednesday put pushed them ahead to 3-0.
Manny Pina added a solo homer of Miller to widen the lead, 4-0.
