ST. LOUIS — A game that could be remembered for how it upended the rotation, saw a pitcher re-injured almost as soon as he returned, and will reshape the Cardinals’ pitching outlook for months to come found Yadier Molina in the seventh inning and gave him a moment free of those worries.
He shared it with 26,027 others.
As Molina approached the batter’s box to lead off the seventh inning, a ballpark proposal on the scoreboard ran long – absorbed as it became in a kiss of affirmation. Molina smiled as he stepped back, shook his head. He then gave Cardinals fans reason to join in the celebration. Molina drilled a tiebreaking home run that sent the home team to a 2-1 victory against the archrival Cubs in front of the largest crowd this season at Busch Stadium.
The rally to win from an early deficit softened what could be a lingering blow to the Cardinals’ pitching staff. Starter Miles Mikolas, making his first appearance at Busch since October 2019, pitched four innings and then could not complete his warmup tosses for the fifth. He left the game with tightness in his right forearm — an early diagnosis that is similar to the one that ended his 2020 season with surgery before he could throw a pitch in competition.
Molina’s seventh homer of the season was the difference in the game once closer Alex Reyes pitched around a flicker of drama in the ninth to secure the win. A ball nubbed down the line was gloved by Nolan Arenado as it drifted into foul territory. Umpire Phil Cuzzi called it fair, putting a second runner on base with two outs. An argument ensued, but Reyes urged his teammates to let it go, let him handle it. He did with a flyout to end the game.
Someone went home with a ring. He got the save. Cardinals got the wins.
Mikolas is only left with only questions.
Mikolas spent more than a month after spring training strengthening his arm and cooling the irritation in his right shoulder. Once cleared of the soreness and impingement that put him on the injured list, he reported to Class AAA Memphis for the steady climb of a three-start rehab assignment. In addition to hitting a home run in his third start for the Redbirds, he pitched so effectively through his 80 pitches, that he had to throw 10 more in the bullpen just to meet the target goal of 90 pitches.
He felt ready.
He felt reassured.
Before throwing a pitch in the fifth inning, he felt something.
While warming up between innings, Mikolas stopped at least twice, looking into the dugout each time and shaking his arm as if trying to get it free of a cobweb. Eventually, backup catcher Andrew Knizner got out of his crouch and a trainer came out of the dugout. Mikolas met the trainer at the first-base line. Pitching coach Mike Maddux and manager Mike Shildt eventually joined them — and Mikolas has yet to throw that 60th pitch.
The right-hander got four innings and 59 pitches into his first start since the 2019 National League Championship Series. It is also his first appearance in a regular-season game while on the four-year, $68 million extension he signed in February 2019. Since the start of 2020, he’s had forearm issues, an injection to facilitate healing, a surgery to repair a tendon, and shoulder soreness that interrupted his spring training. During the procedure to address the forearm injury, the ligament that is repaired in Tommy John surgery was observed, and Mikolas and the Cardinals said the medical officials were pleased with its integrity. Any issue around the elbow is going to cause concern about possible reconstruction because an area under stress due to injury can cause damage elsewhere, seeking out the weakest link in the kinetic chain.
Mikolas will undergo additional testing and scans to determine the root cause of his discomfort Saturday and explore necessary remedies.
Thrust into the game — and possibly getting a bid to re-enter the rotation — Daniel Ponce de Leon retired the side in order in the fifth and pitched around a leadoff walk to deliver a tie game to lefty Genesis Cabrera. Ponce de Leon struck out two batters, each of them with an elevated fastball at 94 mph. The five outs he got a day after pitching a scoreless inning in Friday’s loss gave the Cardinals a chance to arrange their most effective relievers to hold a lead. Cabrera sped through his assignment, covering the final out of the sixth and all of the seventh.
Giovanny Gallegos tiptoed into trouble against the top of the Cubs order when Kris Bryant singled to right and Willson Contreras drew a walk. Gallegos retired Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez in order to solve the inning and set up closer Reyes.
Reyes secured his 14th save to setup Sunday’s rubber game in the series.
Before the game on Sunday Night Baseball, the questions will be all about what’s next for the Cardinals’ planned six-man rotation, whether Mikolas might miss another extended stretch of time, and how soon the lineup, after it’s fleeting look at full strength, can expect reinforcements.
The Cardinals’ lineup had a sudden subtraction hours before the rotation did.
Rookie right fielder Dylan Carlson had a lengthy conversation with a trainer in the dugout during batting practice and then took the field apparently to test his mobility or limitations with tightness in his back. The switch-hitter was removed from the lineup shortly before first pitch, and that forced a rewrite — the middle of the order moved up a spot, Harrison Bader continued his advancement over the past week from batting eighth to now fifth, and Lane Thomas took over in right field.
Including Mikolas, the bottom six spots in the Cardinals’ lineup for Saturday’s game had either spent significant time this season on the injured list or bench.
Two of them created the game-tying rally.
Through four innings Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay had needed only 47 pitches to get 12 outs, and he followed Kyle Hendricks’ lead from the night before and crammed the strike zone with pitches. Late in his win against the Cardinals on Friday, Hendricks had faced 25 batters and thrown fewer than 20 balls. Alzolay got through four innings and had thrown only 10 balls. He didn’t throw his sixth ball until his 35th pitch. The right-hander threw a career-high seven innings and did so on 86 pitches, 70 of which were strikes. Alzolay retired the first two batters of the fifth inning a lot like he had retired the previous 12 — quickly.
In the previous turn through the bottom of the Cardinals’ order he had retired all six, and he was perfect through three innings.
The second turn hit a speedbump.
Building on his three-hit game Friday, Edmundo Sosa tagged a fly ball to the right field corner and flew around the bases, testing the Cubs’ accuracy by reaching for a two-out triple. He scored easy when Thomas, batting ninth, laced a single to center.
Sosa reached again in the seventh inning on a single and a error that again put him at second base. In five of his first seven at-bats of this series he’s reached base, and thrice he’s scored.
