Miles Mikolas was one agonizing strike away from baseball history.
The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander tossed 8 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball against the Pittsburgh Pirates before the final batter he faced, Cal Mitchell, managed to break it up with a ground-rule double.
With two out in the ninth and a 2-2 count, Mitchell – who didn’t start the game – laced Mikolas’ 129th pitch over the head of Harrison Bader and into the stands on a bounce.
With his pitch count already sky-high, the team removed Mikolas to a standing ovation after giving up the hit.
Mikolas became the first Cardinals hurler to toss 8 2/3 no-hit innings since Michael Wacha in 2013.
Packy Naughton relieved Mikolas and recorded the final out to secure a 9-1 Cardinals victory and a St. Louis sweep of Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Mikolas finished his night with six strikeouts, one walk, and one unearned run allowed on a career-high 129 pitches (81 strikes). The Pirates managed to score in the fourth when Bryan Reynolds reached second on a Juan Yepez error before coming around to score on consecutive ground-ball outs.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer, Matthew Liberatore pitched five shoutout innings and Yadier Molina passed Iván Rodríguez for the most putouts by a catcher in MLB history during the St. Louis Cardinals’ 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
It was the first game of a day-night doubleheader, and gave the Cardinals their fourth win in five games. The Pirates dropped their season-high eighth straight.
With his 11 putouts, Molina reached the high-water mark of 14,870 putouts over his 18 seasons.
He was also front and center in a wild sequence leading to the Cardinals’ third run in the fourth inning. After reaching on an error, Molina was picked off second to end the inning. But after he and Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol argued, the umpires conferred and called a balk. That drew the ire of Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who argued but wasn’t ejected.
Nolan Gorman then walked to load the bases and Goldschmidt followed with a grounder up the middle. Gorman beat the force play at second, but ran through the base instead of sliding, which led to a lengthy rundown between second and home, allowing Molina to score before Edmundo Sosa was called out at home.
Liberatore (2-1) was called up as the Cardinals’ 27th man for the twin bill. He struck out five, walked two and gave up three hits. Giovanny Gallegos earned his ninth save in 12 chances with a scoreless ninth.
The Cardinals go for the four-game sweep tonight. Game time is 6:45 at Busch Stadium.