MILWAUKEE — A few times already this fledgling season the Cardinals have flaunted the potential depth of their lineup around a power-packed start from Nolan Arenado.
It’s getting pitchers deep into games that’s been missing.
Miles Mikolas became the first Cardinals starter to get an out in the seventh inning as he, with a gust of runs behind him, worked methodically through Milwaukee’s lineup to carry the Cardinals toward a 10-1 victory Friday night at American Family Field. Everything Mikolas wasn’t in his first start of the season — economical, eager to throw all of his pitches, in command of any pitch — the right-hander was in his second chance to make an early impression. In his finest start for the Cardinals since injury ended his 2020 season, Mikolas struck out seven and the one run he allowed in 6 2/3 innings came after he left an inning for the bullpen to finish.
Mikolas allowed one hit through six innings, and by the time he gave up a second, the Cardinals’ offense had already turned the game into a rout and were on their way to a season-high 14 hits.
When Tommy Edman’s home run cleared the fence in right-center field in the fifth inning, every spot in the Cardinals’ order had reached base safely and eight different Cardinals had scored a run.
Edman’s homer, his third of the season, was his second in as many games against Milwaukee and gave him home runs from the left side on consecutive days for the first time in his major league career. His two-run homer pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 8-0 and paved the way for Mikolas to carry on into the seventh inning.
With two Cardinals making their ’22 debut, the lineup still flexed its depth. Arenado reached based in his first three plate appearances and then punctuated the game with a two-run homer, his fourth of the season in six games. Tyler O’Neill had three hits. The Cardinals got five base hits and four RBIs from the bottom three spots in the order before the end of the fifth inning.
All of the players and coaches on the field wore a Dodger blue No. 42 as a tribute to Jackie Robinson on the 75th anniversary of his debut and the integration of the National League.
What Mikolas’ first start lacked in effectiveness, he made up for with expedience in his second appearance of the season.
It took the Cardinals’ right-hander 41 pitches to get through his first inning of this season, and the pitch count was such a drag he was unable to complete the fourth inning despite only allowing two runs on six hits. Mikolas was constantly tiptoeing around trouble, plunging into deep counts, and faced 10 batters in the first inning. He got his ninth out of the game Friday from the 10th batter. He didn’t throw his 41st pitch until the fourth inning, and by then he had a six-run lead as a tailwind.
He rode it.
Mikolas challenged the Brewers and needed only 11 pitches to finish the first inning, and that included two strikes. By the end of the fourth, he had faced one more than the minimum, allowed the one single, and only three other balls got as far as the outfield grass. All three were caught for outs. It took the Brewers' Freddy Peralta 64 pitches to get through the first two innings. Mikolas got through the fifth on about the same amount of pitches.
Not that he favored any one pitch.
Through six shutout innings, Mikolas had not relied too much on any single pitch, mixing five different styles in almost equal use. His fastball topped out at 94.8 mph, and then so did his two-seam sinker, at 94.4 mph. He threw nearly as many plunging curveballs (15) through six innings as he did veering sliders (16), and by playing the curve off the fastball Mikolas was able to get six curves taken for a called strike.
By the end of the fifth inning, Mikolas had struck out five of the Brewers batters at least once, and in the seventh he struck out former MVP Christian Yelich for a third time.
Mikolas did so on three different pitches.
In the first, Yelich swung over a 94.4-mph sinker.
In the fourth, he swung ahead of a 75.9-mph curve.
In the seventh, Yelich worked Mikolas through a nine-pitch at-bat that took longer, but ended all the same. Yelich whiffed on an 86.9-mph slider.
The strikeout of Yelich was the first out of an inning Mikolas did not finish. Two singles chased the right-hander from the game and got the Cardinals’ bullpen involved. Nick Wittgren appeared for the fourth time in the first six games. Wittgren hit a batter and allowed a single so one of the inherited runners scored and Mikolas lost his scoreless outing on a pitch he did not throw. The inning stopped there as Wittgren got the third batter he faced to popup for the final out of the seventh.
The Cardinals pitched the entire game with wiggle room.
Six batters into the game the Cardinals had a 4-0 lead, 11 into the game they had widened that to 6-0 on Brewers starter Peralta (0-1).
The third All-Star last season in the Brewers’ rotation, Peralta got two outs on his first four pitches Friday. He allowed four runs on his next 22. The right-hander suddenly struggled to find the strike zone after O’Neill’s two-out double. Peralta walked Arenado and designated hitter Lars Nootbaar to load the bases. When he finally did throw a competitive strike, it was over the plate for Harrison Bader to put over the infielders for a two-run single. The base hit was Bader’s first with runners in scoring position this season. Bader stole second base to get into scoring position for catcher Andrew Knizner.
The Cardinals’ backup flipped a single to right field that brought home two more runs and gave him five RBIs on his first two hits of the season.
The eighth inning found rookie reliever Andre Pallante, the only first-time major leaguer on the Cardinals’ roster. His assignment: The top of the Brewers’ order. Three batters in, he snapped a curve under the swing of Yelich to strike out the Brewers’ No. 3 hitter. A teammate quickly shouted to have the ball thrown to the dugout as a keepsake.
Yelich’s fourth strikeout of the game was Pallante’s first in the big leagues.
