Nolan Arenado on quest for strong finish as Cardinals take on Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado was determined to overcome his persistent shoulder pain and resume playing before the season ended.

“He wanted to make sure that he was healthy enough to come back,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “As soon as that was the case, I mean, the rehab was really short for that reason. He was fighting as much as possible to get back in this lineup and show that he is healthy.”

Arenado, who has driven in five runs in his first four games back in the lineup, will try to continue his strong finish when the Cardinals host the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night in the second game of a three-game series.

The Cardinals (75-79) won 7-1 Friday night to snap Milwaukee’s three-game winning streak. Arenado broke the game open with a three-run double.

He had been sidelined from July 31 to Sept. 15 with a right shoulder strain.

“You never want to finish the season hurt,” Arenado told FanDuel Sports Network. “It was important to come back, be with the boys. I love competing, and that’s just what I wanted to do.”

The Cardinals on Saturday will start right-hander Miles Mikolas (8-10, 4.80 ERA), who earned a 3-2 victory over the Brewers in his most recent start last Sunday. He allowed two just hits — solo homers by Danny Jansen and Caleb Durbin — in five innings. Mikolas struck out five and didn’t walk anybody.

Mikolas 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA is two starts against the Brewers this season. He is 11-7 with a 3.82 ERA in 21 career outings against them, including 20 starts.

The Brewers (94-60) have a six-game lead over the second-place Chicago Cubs as they close in their third straight National League Central title. The Cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 on Friday night.

Milwaukee had won five of six games before Friday night’s loss. The Brewers have remained focused despite relying heavily on inexperienced players.

“I’m just proud of the guys on the team, especially our young players, because the demand is high here,” Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich said before this series began. “There definitely were growing pains at the beginning, but as a team, we all know that the stuff that’s harped on and demanded and practiced, it’s all for the good the team.

“There’s not that grace period for you to get your feet wet in the big leagues and make mistakes and go through the growing pains. There’s been moments where people have been hard on them because they want the expectation of, ‘You have to do this right.’ You have to grow up fast if you want to develop players and win games.”

Milwaukee will start rookie Chad Patrick (3-8, 3.64 ERA), who pitched a scoreless inning of relief in each of his previous two outings. The right-hander returned to the rotation with Jose Quintana landing on the 15-day injured list.

Patrick has a 3.51 ERA in 21 starts this season. He is 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA in two appearances against the Cardinals, including one start.

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media