'We have to turn it around now': Cardinals pitcher stresses urgency after tough loss

Sunday night was a tough night for the St. Louis Cardinals.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead against their archrivals, the Chicago Cubs, the Birds faltered. They couldn't hold the lead, and the bats went quiet as they fell 6-2. St. Louis ultimately dropped three out of four to the North Siders.

After the game, a key member of the team preached urgency with a tough schedule coming up.

"If we're going to turn it around, we have to turn it around now," said Miles Mikolas. "We have a good stretch coming up against winning ballclubs, teams that if we make the playoffs we're probably going to see. Now is the time to really turn it on."

Mikolas pitched four innings for the Cardinals on Sunday night and allowed four runs to the Cubs, taking the loss. The team is in desperate need of a hot stretch to regain their footing in the playoff race.

St. Louis is 5 1/2 games back of first place in the National League Central and they fell to three games back in the Wild Card race on Sunday. Now is certainly the time to get things going.

After a 15-24 start, the Cardinals seemed to have turned things around after surging back into the playoff race. But since mid-July, the team has been struggling, and they may ultimately find themselves on the outside looking in at the end of the season if they can't get going.

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