Miles Mikolas allowed five hits and two runs without walking a batter and striking out five over six innings in a loss against the Marlins on Wednesday.
Mikolas himself pitched well enough to win here. The problem is that the Cardinals have been shutout by the Marlins in consecutive games. Notably, Mikolas showcased his best velocity of this season in this game. His fastball sat at 95 mph, he threw multiple pitches around 96 mph, and was up two or even three ticks across the board. It’s easy to assume that this could be a mistake, but this was actually Mikolas’ fourth straight start where his average fastball velocity has trended up. That’s something to watch ahead of his next start, which is scheduled to come against the Dodgers.