Cards nab 50th win as Mikolas' mastery of Nats continues

ST. LOUIS -- Thursday night at Busch Stadium may well have simultaneously felt like a breath of fresh air for Cardinals fans and an unwelcome rerun for Nationals fans. Whatever his struggles have been thus far this season, Cards righty Miles Mikolas has a habit of adjusting his attitude in a matchup with Natitude, evidenced by his 5 2/3 scoreless innings provided in St. Louis’ 8-1 series-clinching victory.

“It felt pretty good,” Mikolas assessed. “After last game, after that third inning [in an 11-3 loss to the Cubs on July 4], I kind of figured out what I was doing wrong, [and] fixed it. Went from there and just went out and pitched my game.”

It was Mikolas’ second start this season against Washington, and a worthy sequel to the 5 1/3 one-run innings in the District on May 11. After surrendering a leadoff double to Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams, Mikolas did not allow another baserunner -- or another ball in play to leave the infield -- until Paul DeJong singled with one out in the fifth.

“Just did a really nice job,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of his starter’s performance. “A lot of comebackers, a lot of ground balls to first, a lot of soft contact.”

There were so many comebackers and ground balls to first -- five combined, with Mikolas recording three putouts and two assists -- that first baseman Willson Contreras jokingly offered at one point to give him a piggyback ride to the mound in order to save a few steps and a little cardio.

“I was just trying to make him comfortable, make him think of something else, but not the game,” Contreras said with a grin.

Contreras' 12th home run, now tied for the team lead, wrapped up St. Louis' scoring for the night in the bottom of the seventh.

“I was aware that I was getting good ground balls,” Mikolas added. “I know that I was covering first base a lot.

“I’m paying attention that I was getting a lot of outs. A lot of outs on the ground, which I always like. We’ve got a tremendous defense with Gold Glovers and future Gold Glovers across the board there, so any time you keep that ball in the infield, that’s a pretty good bet of getting outs.”

Only Abrams, DeJong and James Wood, who walked with two outs in the sixth to chase Mikolas from the game with just 71 efficient pitches on his ledger, would reach base against the righty, as he improved his career ERA against Washington to 2.98, his best mark in opposition to any team against whom he started more than five times.

“Something that he's been doing good is he's mixing his pitches good,” Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “He gives you a different look of his pitches.”

Though Mikolas exited with only a 2-0 lead, the Cardinals' offense exploded in the sixth to put the game away. Five consecutive hitters reached base against Nationals reliever Mason Thompson en route to a five-run inning. The decisive victory gave St. Louis wins in five of its six games against Washington this season.

Steven Matz and Kyle Leahy combined to finish up the last 3 1/3 innings, with Washington scoring its only run on, appropriately, a fielder’s-choice grounder to third base by Jacob Young against Leahy in the eighth.

“It’s really important for the offense to put the game away,” Contreras said. “I think every game is important, especially with the way we’ve been playing lately. Today we showed up and played with intent and intensity. That’s one thing that we talked about, and we need to keep it up.”

Brendan Donovan had two hits, scored two runs and drove in another to help pace the St. Louis offense from the leadoff spot. Alec Burleson added two RBIs, while Contreras scored two runs.

St. Louis wraps up its first half with a weekend series hosting the Braves, against whom they lost two of three at Truist Park in April. With the Cardinals (50-44) just one game out of the third Wild Card spot and tough decisions to be made in the run up to the July 31 Trade Deadline, the clubhouse is well aware that the time to make a move is on hand.

“Once you start thinking about the break, your body shuts off and your mind shuts off, and we have no room for that,” Contreras said. “Just not think about the break. Think about tomorrow and think about the game.”