Miles Mikolas Has Bounce Back Performance Following Terrible Start

St. Louis Cardinals Starting Pitcher Miles Mikolas bounced back from a terrible start last night at Busch Stadium. Mikolas gave up eight earned runs against the Cubs on July 4 at Wrigley Field. The start included him giving up six home runs, the most a St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher had ever given up in a single game. Both Miles Mikolas and Eric Fedde have had rough stretches for the Cardinals, but Mikolas may have turned a corner.

Miles Mikolas Needed To Bounce Back

Mikolas pitched 5.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out six batters and inducing ten groundballs. Last night’s outing by Mikolas was the first time he recorded a shutout since May 17 against the Kansas City Royals. When Mikolas pitches this season, he is on one side of both extremes. He either pitches like an ace or pitches like a pitcher you look at and say: Is this an MLB caliber starter?

Simply put, the Cardinals don’t know what type of pitcher they’re going to see when Mikolas starts. He’s allowed eight earned runs two times this season, if you count the July 4 appearance. He has also allowed no earned runs four times this season, including last night. Miles Mikolas’ big strength is giving the Cardinals rotation innings, which he has done this season.

Pitchers Have To Have a Short Memory

You always hear MLB announcers say that pitchers have to have a short memory, and that’s what Mikolas did. Statistically, Mikolas had the worst start in franchise history based on home runs allowed in one start. If that wouldn’t get into a pitcher’s head, then shoutout to them because that would be a hard stat to grasp with.

St. Louis Cardinals fans will have to live with the fact that Mikolas is going to have blow-up starts and he’s going to have excellent starts as well. Those seem like realistic expectations since he’s the Cardinals’ number four starter.