Mikolas' spring ERA is down to 6.59 after Friday's five-inning blanking of the Nationals, an outing in which he allowed three hits, issued a walk and recorded two strikeouts.

EDGE Analysis

'Mikolas has now generated consecutive scoreless starts after giving up 10 earned runs over his first pair of outings. The key against a Nationals split-squad in manager Mike Matheny's view was pitch variety according to Ben Frederickson and Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. "His breaking ball, he had a better feel. He was throwing it where he wanted to. He was throwing some early strikes. Saw some good, hard (split-changeups)." Mikolas worked up to 79 pitches in the outing, getting 49 of his offerings into the strike zone. He'll look to keep building momentum for the regular season in a likely Wednesday start against the Marlins.