St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas argues with umpires. Joe Puetz-USA TODAY Sports

MLB punishes Cardinals for throwing at Cubs

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated 7/28/23

Major League Baseball acted quickly to discipline St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas after his incident with the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night.

Mikolas was suspended for five games for throwing at Cubs outfielder Ian Happ, with Cardinals manager Oli Marmol also getting a one-game suspension. Mikolas intends to appeal his suspension, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

News: Miles Mikolas suspended for 5 games for throwing at Ian Happ last night. He is appealing. Oliver Marmol also gets an automatic 1 game suspension.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) July 28, 2023

The Cardinals were angered when Happ caught catcher Willson Contreras on a backswing, opening up a gash in Contreras’ head that forced him to leave the game. Mikolas threw up and in on Happ on the first pitch afterward, then hit Happ in the back with the pitch after that, at which point he was ejected.

Ian Happ hit Willson Contreras in the back of the head on the backswing here.

Contreras left the game and two pitches later, Miles Mikolas hits Happ and is ejected from the game. pic.twitter.com/7yNJivbzRT
— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) July 27, 2023

Willson Contreras left the game after getting hit by Ian Happ on his backswing.

Two pitches later, Miles Mikolas hit Happ with a pitch and was ejected from the game.

(via @BallySportsMW)pic.twitter.com/iUODXbIBVu
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 28, 2023

While MLB is occasionally lenient when it comes to pitchers hitting batters and policing the game, Mikolas blew it by not hitting Happ on the first try. The second pitch left no doubt that he was throwing at Happ intentionally, and at that point, discipline was pretty much inevitable.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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