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Posted at 12:30 PM EST.

8:15 PM EST. The Cardinals are coming off an improbable win in last night's series opener. After blowing a 4-0 lead early in the game, the Red Birds rallied with five runs in the bottom of the ninth to steal back the victory. Yairo Munoz's walk-off, three-run homer sealed the deal, which has us looking to fade the Cards after that adrenaline dump late last night.

Miles Mikolas has exploded onto the scene this season with a 6-0 record, which includes a sparkling ERA of 2.58. If you have a short memory or are new to the game, you might think, "who is this young upstart?". However, a quick fact check shows that Mikolas was run out of the majors after a disappointing start to his career. The 29-year-old was originally drafted by the Padres in 2009 but spent time with three big league clubs before being released by Texas in 2014. Mikolas then spent the next three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo. In his final year in Japan last season, Mikolas struck out nearly a batter an inning, which significantly improved his strikeout rate over anything he was able to produce in the bigs. Maybe there was something in the Sushi because since returning to America, Mikolas has been seemingly untouchable, but a closer look under the hood shows a few warts are beginning to grow on his game. Mikolas' xERA is more than a half a point higher than his actual ERA but the market only sees that sub-three surface number, which inevitably has him overvalued. Mikolas has an unsustainable strand percentage of 81%, while his K rate is 6.92/9. Thus, he's putting men on base but not striking out nearly enough batters to keep those balls that are currently being caught and fielded for outs from eventually dropping in. Remember, there was a reason this guy was exiled from MLB in the first place. Mikolas is performing well above his head and any disciplined team in the majors is a bad matchup for him.

Enter the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have cut down on their free-swinging ways to become the most disciplined hitting team in the National League through the first two months of the season. Pirate hitters will certainly be happy to see Mikalos, as they lit his ass up when these two teams played up in the Steel City last week. This is the third time in five weeks that the Pirates have seen Mikalos and the more acquainted major league hitters get with the former castoff, the worse it's going to get for him.

The Pirates will send Jameson Taillon to the bump, but unlike his counterpart who happens to have a horseshoe up his you know what, Taillon can't catch a whiff of good luck. The former number two overall pick in the 2010 draft is winless in his last nine starts and carries a below average record of 2-4 into this game. Taillon's ERA is a bloated 4.53, but his xERA is 3.78, which is a much more accurate representation of the quality level he's been pitching at this season. There is a lot to like about Taillon from his 96 MPH heater to his 54 Ks in 57.2 innings. He also rarely walks anybody. Taillon will now face a Cardinals’ team that is baseball royalty, but long gone are the days when they had a murderers row of hitters that would make any pitcher pucker up. St. Louis is ranked fifth in the National League in strikeouts per game and it is a middle of the pack club when it comes to runs scored. Despite that offensive explosion last night, there really isn't much to see here. Taillon's stock is undoubtedly low and he cannot be a dog to a never was like Miles Mikolas. Surface stats show a significant discrepancy between these two pitchers, but that story is a lie. Do not be fooled. The Pirates are the prudent play here.

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