Mikolas, Cardinals get rude welcome to holiday in rout vs. Cubs

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CHICAGO -- In an effort to sling-shot the Cardinals out of the doldrums of a three-game sweep in Pittsburgh where they were blanked offensively the entire series, Miles Mikolas gave an impassioned and fiery speech to his teammates about continuing to show the resolve that they have all season before hitting Chicago’s Wrigley Field on July 4.

As it turned out, Mikolas’ fiery words devolved into some loud and brilliant fireworks for a Cubs team that torched the Cardinals and their veteran right-hander on a forgettable Friday afternoon.

“I tried to get everybody fired up the other day on the bus coming back from Pittsburgh, and I should have maybe fired myself up a little more,” said Mikolas, who became the first pitcher in Cardinals’ history to surrender six home runs in a game in the 11-3 loss. “It’s really disappointing. Fourth of July, Chicago and I was really excited for this start and I really wanted it to go well. And it didn’t. I’ve got to live with that and deal with that.”

Six home runs off Mikolas and two more off lefty reliever John King added up to a dubious mark for the Cardinals in the first game of a three-game series. The eight home runs are the most ever allowed in a game by St. Louis, a tradition-rich team that started playing baseball in 1882. Michael Busch hit three homers and Pete Crow-Armstrong smashed two more as the Cubs set a franchise record of their own with the eight long balls over the ivy-covered walls.

“I mean, we got our ass handed to us and it’s not one specific thing,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol fumed. “We gave up [eight] home runs and let’s just say what it is. It wasn’t one thing, and it was [the team being] flat. … Your pitcher didn’t have a whole lot, and they took advantage of it.”

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Marmol refused to speculate after the game whether Mikolas will make his next start after he was roughed up yet again. The 36-year-old right-hander, who has been a fixture in the Cardinals rotation since 2018, seemed to steady his season with a strong April and May, but he has been hit hard of late. He went 4-2 with a 3.51 ERA over his first 10 starts of the season, but he is 0-4 with a staggering 7.75 ERA over his last seven starts. He’s allowed 12 home runs in those seven starts.

“We evaluate it every time,” said Marmol, who has also seen right-handed veteran starter Erick Fedde struggle of late. “We’ll look at all of it tomorrow.”

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A pitcher who throws the ball in the middle of the plate far too often in recent years, Mikolas contemplated naming his new boat “Too Many Strikes,” when he purchased it over the winter. Ultimately, he settled on, “Innings Eater” -- and the Cubs feasted on his middle-middle pitches on Friday.

The fireworks started early with Seiya Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong going back-to-back with homers in the first. Mikolas’ 92.9 mph sinker to Suzuki missed over the inside corner instead of the outside corner, while the 77.8 mph curveball hit by Crow-Armstrong was in the middle of the plate instead of being below the zone as he intended.

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In the second inning, Busch and former Cards catcher Carson Kelly went back-to-back again with two more long balls. Busch hit a 91.7 mph four-seam fastball in the middle of the plate, while Kelly connected on a low slider.

It was more of the same in the third inning as the Cubs went back-to-back a third time. When Crow-Armstrong and Busch hit Statcast-projected 400-plus-foot smashes off the data board in right field, the Cubs became the fifth team since 1956 to go back-to-back on homers three times in the same game, per MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs.

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“The Cubs are a good team, you have to play good, tight baseball and you can’t throw pitches down the middle at all,” said Mikolas, who fell to 1-4 and saw his ERA balloon to 7.56 over his last seven games against the Cubs. “They’re first in the division for a reason, they’re playing well, they’re hitting and they’re pitching.

“We’re a really strong team, too, and I let us down today. I didn’t do my part today and we suffered for that. Hopefully we’ll go out there [on Saturday] and give them hell. We’ve got two games left in this series and it’s not over. We can win two days in a row and come out on top on this road trip and not think much of it … get back to St. Louis and get back to business.”

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