Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas out for at least 4-6 weeks after stem cell injection

The St. Louis Cardinals will be without right-handed pitcher Miles Mikolas for even longer now.

After making his first start for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2019, Miles Mikolas is going on the IL after receiving a stem cell injection into the injured flexor tendon in his throwing arm.

Mikolas missed all of last season to repair the injured tendon. He missed most of the first two months of this season with a sore shoulder. Mikolas signed a four-year, $68 million deal with the Cardinals ahead of the 2019 MLB season. Since his lofty contract went into effect, Mikolas has made one start for the Redbirds, which was last Sunday vs. the NL Central rival Chicago Cubs.

St. Louis is hoping to have their well-compensated right-hander back later on this summer.

St. Louis Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas to miss the next four-to-six weeks

The Cardinals enter play on Saturday night vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks with a half-game lead over the Cubs in a tight NL Central race. While the Diamondbacks have lost a league-worst 12 games in a row, Chicago is among the hottest teams in baseball, winning eight of its last 10 games. There is a chance only the NL Central division winner reaches the postseason this October.

While it is in the Cardinals’ best interest to make sure Mikolas makes a full recovery, this has not been a good investment thus far on the 2018 NL wins leader. Mikolas had been an NL All-Star in his first year back in MLB after spending three years over in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants. At this point, if Mikolas can give the Cardinals anything in early August or September, that’d be cool.

After only four innings in two year’s time, Mikolas has been shut down by St. Louis once again.