The St. Louis Cardinals will turn to veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas in a bid to snap a seven-game losing streak Sunday afternoon when they close a four-game series against the host Milwaukee Brewers.
Mikolas (2-5, 6.43 ERA) has lost four of his last five starts.
Right-hander Bryse Wilson (2-1, 2.40 ERA), who began the season in the bullpen, will make his fifth start for Milwaukee.
The Brewers rallied for a 5-3 victory on Saturday when Rhys Hoskins hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off reliever Andrew Kittredge.
The Cardinals threatened in the ninth with consecutive two-out singles by Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt before Nolan Arenado flied out to right field. The single by Goldschmidt, who struck out in his first four at-bats, snapped a career-worst 0-for-32 slump.
St. Louis, which scored just three runs in dropping the first two games of the series, outhit Milwaukee 12-6 on Saturday.
“The at-bats were way better,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We got beat tonight; we didn’t beat ourselves.”
Milwaukee has won eight straight games against St. Louis, including all six this season and 11 of the last 12 overall. The Cardinals are in last place in the National League Central, nine games behind the front-running Brewers.
William Contreras, who doubled and walked twice, has reached base in 19 consecutive games for the Brewers. He is hitting .329 over that span with eight doubles, a homer, 10 RBIs and 13 walks.
Wilson allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings in this last start but did not get the decision in a 3-2 loss at Kansas City on Monday. Since moving into the Brewers’ injury-riddled rotation, he is 0-1 with a 1.35 ERA.
“Kind of like my role I had last year in the bullpen, I take a lot of pride in saving some of those arms and giving days off, and I’m taking that into a starting (role) as well,” Wilson told MLB.com after his last start. “If I can go six (innings) every time out — it’s probably not going to happen because that’s how baseball is — but if I can go six then I know the bullpen is good to go, and 99 times out of 100, we’re going to get that win after that game.”
Wilson is 1-3 with a 9.45 ERA in 12 career games, including four starts, against the Cardinals and is 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA as starter against them. He picked up a win in relief this season, retiring all four batters he faced in the Brewers’ 12-5 win over Mikolas and St. Louis on April 20.
Mikolas was tagged for six runs on nine hits in four innings in his last start, a 7-5 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday. He has lost both starts in May, giving up nine runs on 15 hits in 10 innings.
Mikolas is 9-6 with a 4.06 ERA in 17 career games, 16 starts, vs. Milwaukee. He has faced the Brewers once this season, giving five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings in that April 20 game.
–Field Level Media
