Cardinals near break, but first face Royals
After playing 18 games in 18 days, the St. Louis Cardinals are looking forward to resetting with a rare two-day break this week.
But before that, they have to play 19 games in a row to end their two-game streak against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
The Royals beat the Cardinals 7-0 on Monday afternoon to extend their second straight win. St. Louis had just two hits.
“The guys are on an 18-game winning streak, you can see it and feel it,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There are no excuses, but they have played through it. (Monday) it showed.
The Cardinals try to come back from losing for the third time in four games.
“You guys are professionals. You wake up in the morning and you’re ready to go,” Marmol said. The team has Wednesday and Thursday off in preparation for a three-game series starting Friday in Pittsburgh. “I think all of us will have to do that… Our group has been able to achieve what we’ve been doing so far because we’ve been doing it day after day. 19 in a row is the real deal. We are. We have one more game[on Tuesday]so we have to come together and find a way to win. ”
The Cardinals will start Miles Mikolas (3 wins, 1 loss, ERA of 4.23), who has shown quality starts in each of the past three games. He pitched seven scoreless innings in his final start in Thursday’s 2-1 victory over Cincinnati.
He held the Reds to five hits, struck out five, and gave no walks.
“That’s how it should be,” Marmol said. “Steal the ball. Go out thinking, ‘I want to finish this game.'”
Mikolas reestablished his missing pitching leadership when he started the season earlier this season and posted a 10.05 ERA in his first three games.
“At my best, I’m a pitcher,” Mikolas said. “Vary your speed. In, out, up, down. Any type of pitch, any count. I play fastballs. So I’m going to sink it in. I’m like, “I’m cutting it. I’m pitching. I’m pitching in there.”
Mikolas made his only start in 2018 against the Royals, and completed a shutout.
On Monday, the Royals threw out Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright and his relievers with 16 hits.
“I felt good at bat,” said Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro. “Wainwright obviously knows what he’s doing. He’s really positioning himself. be.”
Kansas City will start Zach Greinke (1-5, 4.55), who held the Detroit Tigers to four hits and one run in the last start Wednesday. He had five strikeouts and one walk in five innings.
The only run allowed was Riley Green’s solo home run.
“I tried throwing it more inside, but it ended up flying mid-up,” Greinke said of the deep-green pitch. “It definitely wasn’t where I wanted to throw it…he hit the ball pretty well.”
Greinke has appeared in 22 career games (20 starts) against the Cardinals, going 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA.
The Cardinals could miss outfielder Lars Notvaal, who was sidelined three times with a back spasm in Monday’s game. He is listed as routine.
–Field level media
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