Mikolas Remains Undefeated In St. Louis' Win Over Chicago

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas continued his early season dominance of the National League Central, throwing seven shutout innings in the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

The win is the third straight for the Cardinals, their second in three games this season against a Chicago team they lost 14 of 19 games against a year ago. The Cubs, meanwhile, have now lost three games in a row for the first time this season.

Mikolas (4-0) allowed seven hits in his sixth start after signing with St. Louis during the offseason. Each of the right-hander's starts has come against Central teams, and he's allowed two or fewer runs in four straight games — throwing seven innings in each.

After pitching for three seasons in Japan, Mikolas' ERA fell to 2.70 in the win. He didn't walk a batter for the third straight start and has now allowed only two walks in 40 innings this season.

Tommy Pham provided the scoring for St. Louis with a three-run home run off Chicago starter Jose Quintana (3-2) in the second inning. All three of the runs were unearned after an error by Cubs shortstop Javier Baez, his eighth error of the season and third in his last five games.

Bud Norris earned his seventh save in seven chances for the Cardinals, doing so despite allowing three hits and a pair of runs in the ninth inning.

WAINWRIGHT'S RETURN

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright threw a bullpen session on Friday, and Cardinals General Manager Michael Girsch said he would meet with the right-hander on Saturday to decide his next step in returning from elbow inflammation. Wainwright has been on the disabled list since April 20th, and Girsch said it's possible the 36-year-old will need a rehab start before returning to the Cardinals rotation. Wainwright is 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA in three starts this season.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cubs: Addison Russell sat out for the second time in six games for Chicago, with Baez starting at shortstop instead. Manager Joe Maddon said the day off for Russell wasn't injury related.

Cardinals: Girsch said reliever Brett Cecil is expected to have one more outing in extended spring training and could possibly start a rehab assignment next week. Cecil has been out since injuring his left shoulder on opening day.

UP NEXT

Cubs: After his best performance with Chicago, right-hander Tyler Chatwood starts for the Cubs in the second game of the weekend series on Saturday. Chatwood threw seven scoreless innings in a win over Milwaukee last weekend, and he's 2-3 with a 2.83 ERA in his first season after leaving Colorado to sign with Chicago.

Cardinals: St. Louis starter Luke Weaver has allowed four of more runs in each of his last three starts. The right-hander will try and improve on his 2-2 record and 5.17 ERA when he takes the mound on Saturday afternoon against the Cubs.

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