The next one was on starter Miles Mikolas with a grossly negative result taking place in the shortest part of the park. After a visit from pitching coach Mike Maddux, Mikolas threw a slider “right down the middle,” he said, to righthanded-hitting pinch batter Austin Slater who managed to loft it 336 feet and over the 25-foot-high right-field wall for a grand slam, breaking a 1-1 tie and leading to an 8-4 Giants victory.
The Giants didn’t exactly belabor Mikolas in the fourth as Kevin Pillar, hitting ahead of Panik, had looped a single into right center. But, with the Cardinals down four runs and Mikolas already at 72 pitches for four innings, he was pulled for a pinch hitter.