NEW YORK — A veteran pitcher who has felt the game shift beneath his cleats, Miles Mikolas often defined a season by the pursuit of 200 innings and the notion that the more he pitched the better. The question being asked (and explored) now, in the opening weeks of the season, is if he will be better in innings if he pitches fewer of them.
When asked about that, Mikolas said more innings still matter to him.
But more innings “are earned.â€
“There’s a trust factor,†the right-hander said Saturday afternoon. “I’ve got to earn it. My track record last year — not the best. Early this year, the Boston game, you can throw that out. You have to earn this. We’re trying to win ballgames. The Cardinals are in the business of winning ballgames. And if you have got a guy out there with a shaky track record …
“I’ve pitched myself further down the rotation standings than I’d like,†Mikolas continued. “If you want to be the guy you have to pitch like the guy. That’s what I’m trying to do.â€
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Mikolas, 36, made his fourth start of the season Friday night, and he’s yet to get as far as the second out of the sixth in any of them. Once a quality start machine who was one of five pitchers to throw 200 innings as recently as 2023, Mikolas is seeing his innings limited so far this season. He goes through the lineup twice and rarely gets that third look. In Friday’s game against the Mets in Queens, Mikolas faced the top two batters in the Mets’ lineup for a third time, and that was where a 2-0 lead vanished. Juan Soto connected for an RBI single that tied a game the Mets won, 5-4.
Mikolas pitched 4 2/3 innings, his third start of five or fewer innings.
“Young me hates it,†he said late Friday night after the game. “I know the game has changed and I’ve gotten older. Maybe what’s expected of me has become a little bit less. I’m also aware that early in the season, I’ve lost a little bit of trust and you want to stop that game from getting out of control.â€
Coming off a 2024 with a 5.35 ERA in 32 starts and back-to-back seasons as one of the highest-ERA starters in the majors, a lot is being thrown at Mikolas in the final year of his contract with the Cardinals. He and the pitching coaches have been working at going outside the zone to lure hitters into more swings and misses. He’s toyed with a sweeper. He’s tightened up his slider into a sharper, shorter breaking pitch that worked well Friday and received kudos from former teammate Adam Wainwright on Saturday. Mikolas has long defined his approach by bulldozing pitches into the strike zone, challenge hitters, and accumulating weak contact, quick outs, and innings, in bulk.
He’s not only looking to shift how he pitches — “Flipped the script,†as manager Oliver Marmol called it Friday — but also what he considers a successful start. That may be the five-inning outing he was once allergic to if it means he leaves with a lead and puts the game in the hands of a reliever with a better matchup.
“His last couple of times out he’s used his stuff differently, and that’s allowed him weaker contact and he can navigate a lineup better,†Marmol said. “You want to continue to see that. If that means after the fifth inning, that third time through, he matches up, then sure. And there are times that’s not the case.â€
Mikolas said he spoke to Marmol following Friday’s game about how to earn back those late innings that he has long seen as part of his goal, part of his job.
Nine of the 16 runs he’s allowed in 17 2/3 innings this season came in his abbreviated, bruising start in Boston, and Mikolas said when it comes to the team having faith him in late innings he’s “not ignorant to the facts of the case.â€
The veteran gave the example Saturday morning of his fourth inning and how got in a bind with a leadoff walk and a two-out single. He then muscled through a 10-pitch duel with Mets catcher Luis Torrens. The right-handed batter fouled off five consecutive pitches with a 2-2 count and saw most of Mikolas’ pitches. Most. Not all. On the 10th pitch, Mikolas landed a curveball that iced Torrens for a called strike three. Mikolas saw that as the problem inning that he solved — and “a good step forward,†he said. If that happens in the fifth inning, maybe he gets the sixth. Maybe that earns him another inning, and he can start stacking those into more trust and more trust into even more innings.
“I want to go seven, eight innings every time out, but if I’m best through five and six and that’s going to give us the best chance to win, then good, because our bullpen is good,†Mikolas said. “I’m at the point that when I start I’d like us to win if that’s one, two, three, four, five, or eight, nine, 10 innings from me, I would like us to win. I would like us to win the games I’m pitching in.â€
Why Donovan credits ‘maturity’
Brendan Donovan extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games with a quick single in his first at-bat Friday night, and he entered Saturday one shy of tying the longest hitting streak in the majors this season. During the longest active streak in the majors, Donovan hit 25 for 54 (.463) and raised his overall average to .380.
He leads the majors in hits with former teammate Paul Goldschmidt right behind him, 30 to 28.
Donovan took a 12-game hitting streak against the Mets into the weekend as well, and late Friday described what he feels is different so far this season and showing up in the stats.
“With maturity comes leaning on experience,†Donovan said. “Maturity comes with preparation. Maturity comes with taking a couple more chances in the box because you have some experience to lean on. I think all of those factors come into it. I understand my body a little bit more each year and (know) how I can quickly fix those misses.â€
Winn homers twice, etc.
Masyn Winn started at designated hitter and hit home runs in his first two at-bats Saturday for Class AAA Memphis as his rehab assignment continued. He felt comfortable after playing shortstop and taking three at-bats Friday, Marmol said. Winn could join the team Monday in Atlanta if he recovers well from the weekend in the minors, and he’s eligible to be activated from the 10-day injured list Tuesday. … Helped by a series of superb plays at third base by Nolan Arenado in the series against the Mets, the Cardinals’ infield entered Saturday’s game with a combined plus-8 Defensive Runs Saved. Second base led the four positions with a plus-4, and the Cardinals as a team ranked fourth overall in the majors with plus-11 DRS. … The Cardinals started 1-7 on the road this season, losing seven of their first eight road games for the first time since 1997.
