Jupiter High grad has rough outing
Miles Mikolas, a Jupiter native and graduate of Jupiter High who signed for $15.5 million for two years after pitching three seasons in Japan, had a rough Cardinals debut Sunday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, giving up six runs and seven hits in 1⅔ innings in a 7-3 loss to Houston.
Mikolas admitted his first Cardinal game “was not the most ideal . ... I’ve got some work to do before my next outing.”
Mikolas was 31-13 in Japan. “I left some pitches up today,” he said. “I like to work better down in the zone and (have) better command of my breaking stuff. I might have been a little too ‘in’ the zone. They were hitting a lot of fastballs in fastball counts. A little predictable. I probably could have thrown some breaking balls in those situations had those breaking balls been a little sharper.”
Mikolas was pitching in a game for the first time since last September and for the first time in this park in 10 years.
“I try to shake off most of the rust in the bullpen,” he said, “but sometimes you just can’t shake it hard enough.
“New team. New country. But it was good. I had a lot of fun out there.”
For more coverage of the Cardinals, go to stltoday.com two scoreless innings against the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Sunday. He even put pitcher’s fielding practice to use for his second out of the game.
The Astros scored three runs in a long second inning, but the wait did not seem to affect Cole. He finished his outing with consecutive strikeouts, one on a change-up and the other on an elevated fastball, before shaking manager A.J. Hinch’s hand on his exit through the dugout.
Cole stuck to fastballs and change-ups. His command was shakier in the first inning than the second. He threw 19 of his total 30 pitches for strikes. “The change-up was pretty sharp,” he said.
For more coverage of the Astros, go to chron.com development phase, but I’m excited about it,” Doolittle said. “I’ve had some really good days working with Lilliquist on it.”
Of hurlers who threw more than 20 pitches last season, only four pitchers relied on their fastball more than Doolittle, who threw the four-seamer 87.7 percent of the time, according to FanGraphs. The 31-yearold actually increased the use of his change-up last season and toyed with a slider that he threw only 5.2 percent of the time. He’s always been inconsistent with the slider.
“I had (a feel for) it for a few weeks or months maybe at different points in my career, but I never really felt like I got past being a work in progress,” Doolittle said.