After a walk and double to start the game, the Cardinals offense fizzled against Trevor Williams in a 2-0 loss Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. Williams gave up three hits while striking out a career-high eight. Each K was swinging. The Cardinals only mustered five hits on the night. Williams has allowed just four earned runs over his last eight starts and improved to 5-2 with an 0.75 ERA during that stretch. He has a major-league best eight starts of at least five innings without allowing a run.
Miles Mikolas dropped to 14-4 on the year. Mikolas gave up two runs and eight hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked one.
The Cardinals, who dropped to 16-4 in their last 20, are now 4 1/2 games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central. They hold the first wild-card spot and have a half-game lead over Milwaukee.
Matt Carpenter was replaced at first base by Matt Adams in the top of the fourth after he felt nauseous.
The Cardinals close out a three-game series with the Pirates tonight at Busch Stadium. John Gant takes the mound against Pittsburgh’s Joe Musgrove.