Cardinals' bats seek breakout game against Brewers

Offensive frustration is mounting for the St. Louis Cardinals, who have scored more than three runs just once in the past 12 games.

They felt further exasperation Friday while falling 2-1 in 10 innings to the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals will seek a reset on Saturday in the middle game of the three-game series.

St. Louis left 12 runners on base and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position in the opener.

"It's been that way for a little bit," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after the loss. "We're fighting through it. We've got to be able to score more runs, there's no secret to that."

Miles Mikolas (1-2, 5.82 ERA) will take the ball on Saturday for the Cardinals, who have lost three of his four starts this season. St. Louis scored a total of four runs in those three defeats, so he hasn't pitched much with the lead.

"It's not really something I think about," Mikolas said. "My job is to keep runs off the board."

Mikolas took a 5-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in his latest outing. He allowed five runs on four hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings on Sunday.

He threw four shutout innings, then got knocked out in the fifth and wound up getting charged with five runs. The key hit, in Mikolas' mind, was Joc Pederson's double down the right field line that barely eluded first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to open the rally.

"I threw a fastball in, and he hit a chopper down the line," Mikolas said. "I mean, he didn't hit it great. (It's not as) if he hits a home run or something hard in the gap. I mean, he hit a chopper that Goldy missed by a couple inches.

"He jumps off the bag there to cover more ground and a guy hits a chopper the opposite way of which he's going and it sneaks down the line. Sometimes that kind of thing happens. That's baseball."

Mikolas went 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against the Brewers last season. He is 9-5 with a 3.79 ERA in 16 career appearances (15 starts) vs. Milwaukee.

The Brewers will start left-hander DL Hall (0-1, 7.11 ERA), who will try to rebound from a difficult start against the Baltimore Orioles, his previous organization.

Hall allowed five runs on eight hits, including three homers, in 3 1/3 innings during a game the Brewers won 11-5 on April 13.

"I'd say they got the best of me a little bit today," Hall said postgame. "They're some of the best players in baseball. You want to face the best and see where you stack up. Today they got me. Hopefully next time I get them."

Brewers manager Pat Murphy wasn't concerned about the performance, given the windy playing conditions and the emotions Hall dealt with while facing former teammates.

"DL did not have his best outing, against a great team," Murphy said. "I think he put a little too much pressure on himself. They are a tremendous offensive team ... and they know DL. I look at this as a great game to learn from, and our guys believe in DL, so they scored a bunch of runs for him today. They know he's young and they want to back him."