ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals and Padres arrived at Busch Stadium on Tuesday with intentions to showcase contrasting strategies. Absent of a fifth starter, San Diego planned to deploy a parade of relievers throughout the night. St. Louis countered with Miles Mikolas, a prototypical ace-type who has spent much of this season pacing one of the National League's top rotations.
Not long ago, the discrepancy would have implied a mismatch. But relievers rule the modern game, and the Padres, despite their last-place record, feature some of baseball's best. So it was opposite a variety of arm angles and arsenals that the Cardinals lineup was held quiet for much of the night, when a cadre of bullpen arms combined to outpitch Mikolas and hand the Cardinals a 4-2 defeat in front of crowd of 40,199.