The Arizona Diamondbacks wasted no time in injecting their venom into the St Louis Cardinals’ dimming playoff hopes, tagging starter Miles Mikolas for four runs in the first inning, en route to a 5-3 win Sunday, July 20 and sweep of the Redbirds.

The trouble started early for the Cardinals, when Corbin Carroll led off the first with a triple. He would come home when Geraldo Perdomo forced a fielder’s choice. After a walk to Josh Naylor, Mikolas gave up a home run to Eugenio Suárez. The Cardinals got in the board in the third with Iván Herrera’s single to bring home Victor Scott II. The Diamondbacks got that run back in the home half of the frame with another Suárez home run.

The Cardinals got starting pitcher Merrill Kelly to walk the first three batters of the fifth, but were only able to score one run on a groundout from Brendan Donovan. A strikeout and groundout resulted in two of the six base runners the Cardinals stranded. The final run for St Louis came with two outs in the ninth, when Jordan Walker sent a fly ball to left field for a double, scoring Masyn Winn.

Mikolas went four innings in the loss, allowing all five runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out three. Kelly had the win for Arizona, allowing four walks as well as two runs on three hits, while striking out five. Anthony DeSclafani recorded a three-inning save.

The sweep results in the Cardinals falling to 51-49, 8.5 games behind Chicago and Milwaukee in the NL Central, and 3.5 games behind San Diego for the third wild card spot. The Cardinals hope for better results on their next stop on their road trip, the 24-75 Colorado Rockies. Michael McGreevy will take the mound for the Cardinals on Monday evening, with first pitch at 7:40 p.m.