Bernie’s Redbird Review: The Cardinals Take A Beating. And What Does Miles Mikolas Have In Common With Bob Gibson?

THE REDBIRD REVIEW

There isn’t all that much to say about Cincinnati’s 11-4 whupping of the Cardinals before a benumbed home audience at Busch Stadium. Thursday night, the Reds turned Busch into Bash and demolished starting pitcher Miles Mikolas.

The Reds razed Mikolas for 12 hits, and 10 runs in 4 and ⅓ innings filled with line drives and extra base hits. If it’s any consolation – and I’m jesting here – one of the 10 runs filed on the righthander’s pitching log was unearned. Mikolas was jounced for six doubles, a triple and a homer. The Reds dispatched 26 batters to the plate against Miles and hit him up for a .500 average and .958 slugging percentage.

How bad was this start? I’m glad you asked. I have some historical perspective to offer after doing a search through StatHead. And I’m using the Bill James devised Game Score as a quick measure.

During the expansion era (1961-present) only 10 St. Louis starting pitchers had a worse score in an assignment than Mikolas did last night.

His Game Score was 1.

The 10 Worst Game Scores In A Start By A St. Louis Cardinal Since 1961

1. Jason Marquis, minus 11 at the Chicago White Sox on June 21, 2006.

2. Mikolas, minus 8 at Coors Field at Colorado on Aug. 9, 2022.

3. Marquis, minus 7 vs. the Braves at Busch Stadium on July 18, 2006.

4. Jaime Garcia, minus 6 at Coors Field on May 28, 2011.

5. Carlos Martinez, minus 3 at LA’s Dodger Stadium on June 2, 2021.

6. Dan Haren, minus 2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 10, 2004.

7. Brett Tomko, minus 2 at Boston’s Fenway Park on June 11, 2003.

8. Jason Simontacchi, minus 1 at Turner Field in Atlanta on Aug. 2, 2002.

9. Andy Benes, 0 at Coors Field on April 4, 2001.

10. Bob Forsch, 0 at Wrigley Field on April 22, 1980.

Next comes a group of Cards starters who had a Game Score of “1”, the same that Mikolas turned in against the Reds last evening. I’ll just mention the season instead of listing the entire date:

Andy Benes (1996), Jack Flaherty (2023), Bob Gibson (1967), Darryl Kile (2000), Mike Mayers (2016), Mark Mulder (2006) and Jerry Reuss (1971.)

Hold on a second.

Bob Gibson … with a “1” Game Score?

It is true. It happened at Busch Stadium in 1967 on June 29. Gibby lasted just two-thirds of an inning against the Giants. The 11 San Francisco hitters who faced the St. Louis franchise icon pelted him with a barrage of singles (8), walks (2) and a double while breaking through for nine earned runs.

Hey, if the immortal Bob Gibson can have a “1” Game Score, then Miles Mikolas has nothing to be ashamed of.

MORE ON BOB GIBSON: Look, when I get going on the StatHead search engine, I can’t be stopped. I get lost in rabbit holes. But this time I think it’s OK. Because we’re talking about Bob Gibson, the greatest pitcher in Cardinals franchise history and an inner-circle Hall of Famer in Cooperstown.

* Yes, that “1” against the Giants in 1967 was the worst start of Gibson’s career. So Miles Mikolas should look at it this way: Forget about that old Three Dog Night hit song; one isn’t the loneliest number.

* Gibson made 482 career regular-season starts. Based on Game Score, the great man had 345 above-average starts, eight average starts, and 129 below-average starts.

* That means 71.5 percent of Gibson’s career starts were scored above average, and 73.2% were no worse than average. Phenomenal.

* Over a 10-season peak period from 1964 through 1973, Gibson made 324 regular-season starts – and 80 percent had an above-average Game Score. There were five average starts in there, and only 18.5 percent of Gibby’s starts were rated below-average.

How about a historical comparison? Well, the outstanding Adam Wainwright is arguably the second-greatest starting pitcher in Cardinals history. He made 411 regular-season starts in his career. Of Wainwright’s 411 career starts, 61.8 percent were above average, 35.5 percent were below average, and 2.7% were average.

ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT: Thursday’s walloping pushed the Cardinals to 6 and ½ games in back of the first-place Brewers in the NL Central … the Padres have moved a half-game ahead of the Cardinals for the NL’s No. 2 wild-card spot … in the bidding for the third wild-card prize, the Cardinals are one game ahead of the Mets, two games ahead of the Pirates, 2 and ½ games in front of the Diamondbacks. The Cardinals lead the Giants and Nationals by three games and are 3 and ½ games above the Reds.

THE MICHAEL SIANI FILE: Good things continue for the emerging underdog who is establishing some credibility as a major-league hitter. The superb center fielder entered Thursday’s game in the seventh inning and promptly tripled and scored a run in the eighth. Siani is now 6 for 9 (.667) in his last four games. In his last 13 games, Siani is 12 for 33 (.576) with a .576 slugging percentage.

– Siani’s 12 hits since June 12th are the fifth most on the team behind Brendan Donovan (22), Alec Burleson (16), Masyn Winn (14) and Paul Goldschmidt (14).

– Among Cardinals who have at least 50 plate appearances in June, Siani’s .429 slugging percentage trails Burleson (.557), Donovan (.506) and Ivan Herrera (.469.)

– Almost hard to believe, but Siani has outslugged Masyn Winn (.381), Goldschmidt (.375), Arenado (.364) and Nolan Gorman (.348) in June. That’s great for Siani, but I don’t think it’s especially great for the Cardinals. With Siani outslugging Goldy, Arenado and Gorman this month, it puts a harsh light on the lack of power from three core-nucleus hitters that were expected to provide plenty of clout.

– After hitting .206 with a .528 OPS over the first two months, Siani is batting .286 and has a .722 OPS in June. Siani has a higher OPS this month than Masyn Winn (.680), Arenado (.674), Goldschmidt (.669) and Gorman (.560). Siani’s 102 wRC+ for June is two percent above the league average — and represents a big improvement over his first two months of the campaign.

— As I mentioned in Thursday’s column, Siani has a .274 batting average vs. righthanded pitchers this season. And in 102 plate appearances against righties since April 20, Siani is hitting .295 with a .320 onbase percentage and .368 slug for a respectable .688 OPS. That OPS nearly matches Nolan Arenado (.692) in performance against RHP since April 20.

JUST THE FACTS

Thursday night’s start raised Mikolas’ season ERA from 4.68 to 5.32.

The seven-run loss dropped the Cardinals’ season run differential to minus 38, which ranks 23rd among the 30 teams and 13th among the 15 National League squads. But the Redbirds are a plus 14 in run differential while going 26-15 since May 12.

The Cardinals started Thursday’s game with four of their first seven hitters drawing during the first two innings. And the home team did not score a run, wasting early opportunities to get something done against Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott.

The Cards had six walks over the first four innings and but only one of the six scored – that on a two-run homer by Arenado in the third.

From the time Arenado homered and through the seventh inning the Cardinals had two singles and a walk in 15 plate appearances.

Brendan Donovan had an RBI double Thursday, and isn’t cooling down. In his last 10 games Donovan is batting .425 with a .725 slug with three homers, three doubles and 12 RBIs. For the month of June, Donovan is batting .326 with a .506 slug, four doubles, four homers and 16 RBIs.

NEXT ON THE SKED 

+ The Cardinals will play their 81st game Friday to reach the halfway stage of the 162-game schedule. Andre Pallante starts for the Cardinals and will be opposed by Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.48.)

+ Pallante has presented a mixed assortment in his five starts this season. Against the Reds, Rockies and Cubs, Pallante allowed one earned run in 14 and ⅓ innings. But in two starts against the Astros and Giants, Pallante was hammered for 13 earned runs in 8 and ⅓ innings.

+ In his five starts this season Pallante has (as usual) been vulnerable to right-handed batters. They’ve jumped him for a .333 average, .417 onbase percentage and .548 slug. He’s walked 10.4 percent of the RH batters he’s encountered in the three starts, and five of their 14 hits against him went for extra bases.

+ Montas, a righthander, has allowed a .271 average, .367 OBP and .457 slug to lefty hitters this season. And they’ve gotten to him for eight doubles and six homers. Montas has a 4.91 ERA in six road starts this season.

Thank you for reading …

I’ll have more coming to you later …

–Bernie

A 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie has provided informed opinions and perspective on St. Louis sports through his columns, radio shows and podcasts since 1985.

Please follow Bernie on Threads @miklaszb

For weekly Cards talk, listen to the “Seeing Red” podcast with Will Leitch and Miklasz. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. We will have a new hosting site soon. Follow @seeingredpod on X for a direct link.

Stats used in my baseball columns are sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, StatHead, Baseball Savant, Baseball Prospectus, Brooks Baseball Net, and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise noted.