<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-plan-after-suspension-for-ian-happ-hit-revealed');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas’ plan after suspension for Ian Happ hit, revealed');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Cardinals-news-St.-Louis_-Miles-Mikolas-plan-after-suspension-for-Ian-Happ-hit-revealed.jpg"></figure><h1>Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas’ plan after suspension for Ian Happ hit, revealed</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-08-07T22:50:20-07:00">August 7th, 10:50pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-08-07T22:50:20-07:00">August 7th, 10:50pm</time><address><a>Poch de la Rosa</a>Poch has been following the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA basketball, NCAA football, and other sports for more than 30 years. He has written for publications such as Bleacher Report, I4U News, BuySideSports, Swimsuits &amp; Sports Magazine, The Cold Wire, Pro Football History, and Defiant Takes Football since 2011. Whenever he's not writing about sports, he loves spending time with his wife and son, watching sports events, reading sports biographies and autobiographies, collecting sports apparel and memorabilia, working out, and playing the piano.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Now that St. Louis Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas has served his five-game suspension for plunking the Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ, the team’s fan base keenly awaits his return.</p><p>They don’t have to wait any longer: Mikolas <a href="https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/st-louis-cardinals-pitcher-miles-mikolas-rejoins-rotation-against-tampa-bay-rays-after-serving-5-game-suspension">will take the mound</a> against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 8, per the Cardinals’ official website (via SI.com’s Sam Connon).</p><p>MLB commissioner Rob Manfred <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-cardinals-miles-mikolas-slapped-with-5-game-suspension-after-plunking-cubs-ian-happ">suspended Mikolas five games</a> after the latter hit Happ with a pitch on July 27. Happ hit St. Louis catcher Wilson Contreras on the head in his previous at-bat. Mikolas beaned Happ in the lower back area two pitches later.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Willson Contreras left the game after getting hit by Ian Happ on his backswing.</p><p>Two pitches later, Miles Mikolas hit Happ with a pitch and was ejected from the game.</p><p>(via <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsMW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BallySportsMW</a>)<a href="https://t.co/iUODXbIBVu">pic.twitter.com/iUODXbIBVu</a></p><p>— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1684715626420441088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The umpires convened and <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejected-hitting-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury">threw Mikolas out</a> of the game. Although the Cardinals pitcher didn’t comment on hitting Happ, he wanted everybody to know he was going to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejection-cubs-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury">defend Contreras</a> and his teammates.</p><p>“In any circumstance, I’ve got Wilson’s back; he’s my catcher. I consider him a really good friend now. Any single one of these guys in this locker room, I go to bat for them 100 percent. That’s something we as a team believe in, always having each other’s backs. I guess that’s what the umpires thought I was doing (purposefully hitting Happ), and it’s unfortunate there was no warning or anything,” Mikolas said.</p><h2><b>Can Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals get their act together when he returns?</b></h2><p>Mikolas dropped his appeal on his suspension and sat out the Cardinals’ next five games. His long layoff doesn’t bode well heading into the showdown against the Rays on Tuesday. He has an abysmal 10.00 ERA when he takes the mound after six days of rest.</p><p>Hopefully, Miles Mikolas’ time off the mound gave him valuable time to regain his bearings. The Cardinals are in last place in the NL Central division with a 49-64 win-loss record as of this writing. If they don’t get their act together soon, they are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time in five years.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas’ plan after suspension for Ian Happ hit, revealed

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/cardinals-news-cardinals-miles-mikolas-slapped-with-5-game-suspension-after-plunking-cubs-ian-happ');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas slapped with 5-game suspension after plunking Cubs’ Ian Happ');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Miles-Mikolas-slapped-with-5-game-suspension-after-plunking-Cubs_-Ian-Happ.jpg"><figcaption>7/28/23</figcaption></figure><h1>Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas slapped with 5-game suspension after plunking Cubs’ Ian Happ</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-28T16:05:21-07:00">July 28th, 4:05pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-28T16:05:21-07:00">July 28th, 4:05pm</time><address><a>Steve Silverman</a>Steve Silverman has been covering the NFL for more than 35 years, and his writing has appeared in ESPN Magazine, Playboy, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Pro Football Weekly, and Forbes.com. He has written 10 books, including "Who's Better, Who's Best in the NFL." He has won multiple awards from the Pro Football Writers of America.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Miles Mikolas played innocent after he hit Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ with a first-inning pitch Thursday night, but Major League Baseball was not buying that explanation and delivered a <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1685051432364642304" rel="noopener">5-game suspension</a> to the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nolan-arenado-best-trade-destinations-cardinals" rel="noopener">St. Louis Cardinals</a> right-handed pitcher.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">St. Louis Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was suspended 5 games for intentionally hitting <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> Ian Happ last night.</p><p>— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1685051432364642304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The incident occurred shortly after Happ pounded Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras with his follow through when finishing his swing. Contreras was cut on the scalp after taking the hit to the head from his former teammate. Happ attempted to show his remorse by hugging Contreras after the incident, but apparently that did not satisfy Mikolas.</p><p>He came inside to Happ on the next pitch and then hit him with his next delivery. Mikolas was thrown out of the game at that point and the suspension was issued less than 24 hours later.</p><p>Mikolas was not the only Cardinal to pay a price. St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was also <a href="https://twitter.com/Feinsand/status/1685052110394503168" rel="noopener">suspended for a game</a> and fined for the intentional pitch.</p><p>While Happ made his <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-cubs-ian-happ-scary-moment-willson-contreras" rel="noopener">apologetic gesture</a> towards Contreras, the Cardinals were unhappy that several of the Cubs appeared to be laughing about the incident. That’s why Mikolas took matters into his own hands.</p><p>Marmol explained that the Cardinals were upset with the attitude they saw from the Cubs. “Correct, guys weren’t happy about the other side just laughing about the situation,” <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/au/mlb/news/cardinals-miles-mikolas-ejected-ian-happ-willson-contreras/uxa0mqphgibwxrvdnfrbqr2m" rel="noopener">Marmol said</a>. “I mean, we had a catcher go down and he’s bleeding, they took offense to that, umpire and Jack were having a conversation and led to my ejection.”</p><p>The 5-game suspension means that Miles Mikolas will miss one turn in the Cardinals pitching rotation.</p><p> </p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas slapped with 5-game suspension after plunking Cubs’ Ian Happ

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejection-cubs-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas reacts to ejection over throwing at Cubs’ Ian Happ after Willson Contreras injury');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cardinals-news-Miles-Mikolas-reacts-to-ejection-over-throwing-at-Cubs_-Ian-Happ-after-Willson-Contreras-injury.jpg"></figure><h1>Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas reacts to ejection over throwing at Cubs’ Ian Happ after Willson Contreras injury</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-28T07:51:15-07:00">July 28th, 7:51am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-28T07:51:15-07:00">July 28th, 7:51am</time><address><a>Owen Crisafulli</a>My name is Owen Crisafulli, and I recently received my Masters in Business Administration from Nichols College. Previously, I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Sport Management, and for awhile I ran my own sports website. Sports are my passion, and I thoroughly enjoy writing about my thoughts and opinions that are related to the game. I have been a lifelong fan of the major professional teams in Boston, and love discussing all topics surrounding those teams.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Not much has gone right for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, and that continued in their 10-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Of course, it certainly didn’t help that the Cards’ starter in Miles Mikolas was <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejected-hitting-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury" rel="noopener">ejected</a> after facing just three batters when he hit Ian Happ with a pitch after Happ’s <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-cubs-ian-happ-scary-moment-willson-contreras" rel="noopener">backswing</a> hit Willson Contreras in the head and forced him to leave the game.</p><p>Mikolas clearly wasn’t happy with Happ nailing his catcher in the head with his bat, and plunked him two pitches after Contreras was forced out of the game. The umpires quickly decided that Mikolas was retaliating and ejected him, which he wasn’t too happy about. After the game, Mikolas didn’t say whether he was intentionally hitting Happ, but made it clear that he was <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/miles-mikolas-oliver-marmol-ejected-after-willson-contreras-injury" rel="noopener">going to defend his teammates</a>.</p><p>“In any circumstance, I’ve got Willson’s back; he’s my catcher, and I consider him a really good friend now. Any single one of these guys in this locker room, I go to bat for them 100 percent. That’s something we as a team believe in, always having each other’s backs. I guess that’s what the umpires thought I was doing [purposefully hitting Happ], and it’s unfortunate there was no warning or anything.” – Miles Mikolas, MLB.com</p><p>Mikolas’ message was received loud and clear, and it doesn’t seem like he has any regrets about what happened, even though it played a massive role in the Cardinals’ latest loss. Either way, the hope is that Contreras will be back on the field sooner rather than later, and when he does return, folks won’t want to mess with him after Mikolas’ actions here.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas reacts to ejection over throwing at Cubs’ Ian Happ after Willson Contreras injury

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/cardinals-news-cubs-ian-happ-scary-moment-willson-contreras');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cubs’ Ian Happ sounds off after ‘scary moment’ with Cardinals’ Willson Contreras');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cardinals-news-Ian-Happ-sounds-off-after-_scary-moment_-with-Willson-Contreras.jpg"></figure><h1>Cubs’ Ian Happ sounds off after ‘scary moment’ with Cardinals’ Willson Contreras</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-27T23:16:23-07:00">July 27th, 11:16pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-27T23:17:41-07:00">July 27th, 11:17pm</time><address><a>Alex House</a>Alex House is a sportswriter who is comfortable covering many different sports. He grew up in a New York sports-heavy region in Connecticut and earned his journalism degree at the University of Rhode Island. His in-depth knowledge of two of the most passionate and raucous fan bases in the country gives him a truly unique writing voice.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Chicago Cubs (51-51) picked up a big 10-3 victory on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday to finally claw their way back to .500. Though, the good vibes were significantly dampened for left fielder Ian Happ, who was involved in a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejected-hitting-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury" rel="noopener">nerve-wracking moment</a> with a former teammate in the first inning.</p><p>Happ connected with the head of Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras on his backswing, causing the three-time All-Star to bleed and exit the game. Right-handed starter Miles Mikolas hit the Chicago veteran with a pitch soon after and was subsequently ejected. Happ <a href="https://twitter.com/maddie_m_lee/status/1684775265790996481" rel="noopener">expressed his regret</a> for the incident after the game.</p><p>“It just sucks. Just horrible,” Happ told Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Obviously comes up bloody. We played together for six years, we’re good friends, a lot of love for him. And so to see him go down and be bleeding from the head, it’s obviously a scary moment. We texted a little bit after the game, and he’s doing alright.”</p><p>That update is extremely encouraging to hear, given the nature of the injury. Willson Contreras started off slow with St. Louis but is in the midst of a torrid July that has him hitting .442 with three home runs and a 1.344 OPS. While he did not get to showcase his big bat Thursday, the Venezuelan native’s resilience was on full display when he tried to avoid coming out of the game.</p><p>“That didn’t surprise me at all,” Ian Happ said. “He was trying really hard to stay in the game and trying to fight the trainer as blood’s coming coming out of his head. That’s who he is. We saw that over here for a long time, and that’s the kind of competitor he is.”</p><p>Happ and Contreras played on the Cubs together from 2017-22 and endured some tough times the last couple of seasons. Both were floated in trade rumors last year before the team decided to hold on to them. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-willson-contreras-cubs" rel="noopener">Contreras then departed</a> in free agency. This is certainly not an experience they want to share, but their bond will hopefully allow them to move forward without any tension.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cubs’ Ian Happ sounds off after ‘scary moment’ with Cardinals’ Willson Contreras

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/cardinals-news-miles-mikolas-ejected-hitting-ian-happ-willson-contreras-injury');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas ejected after hitting Ian Happ following Willson Contreras’ early exit');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Miles_Mikolas_ejected_after_hitting_Ian_Happ_following_Willson_Contreras__early_exit.jpg"></figure><h1>Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas ejected after hitting Ian Happ following Willson Contreras’ early exit</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-27T17:58:01-07:00">July 27th, 5:58pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-28T12:32:37-07:00">July 28th, 12:32pm</time><address><a>Alex House</a>Alex House is a sportswriter who is comfortable covering many different sports. He grew up in a New York sports-heavy region in Connecticut and earned his journalism degree at the University of Rhode Island. His in-depth knowledge of two of the most passionate and raucous fan bases in the country gives him a truly unique writing voice.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The St. Louis Cardinals’ 2023 season has been plagued by unforeseen futility, injuries and even some <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/cardinals-news-oli-marmol-benches-tyler-oneill-braves" rel="noopener">brief clubhouse tension</a>. Fans can now throw in a wild and disastrous first inning on the list of calamities. And another injury.</p><p>Things started out smoothly in Tuesday’s home matchup against the Chicago Cubs, with starting pitcher Miles Mikolas retiring the first two batters he faced. Things broke down from there, though. Cubs’ Ian Happ <a href="https://twitter.com/amartinez_11/status/1684713736563810304?s=20" rel="noopener">connected with catcher</a> Willson Contreras on the follow through of his swing, per Andy Martinez of Marquee Sports Network.</p><p>He left the game, with the obvious concern being a concussion. Although it appeared to be an accident, Mikolas pitched Happ inside before then hitting him in the rear. St. Louis’ ace was ejected from the game. Chicago rallied and put up three runs following a bases-loaded ground rule double from Christopher Morel. Yikes.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ian Happ hit Willson Contreras in the back of the head on the backswing here. </p><p>Contreras left the game and two pitches later, Miles Mikolas hits  Happ and is ejected from the game. <a href="https://t.co/7yNJivbzRT">pic.twitter.com/7yNJivbzRT</a></p><p>— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) <a href="https://twitter.com/amartinez_11/status/1684713736563810304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>Batters hitting a catcher on their backswing is an issue that had previously come to light when multiple offender Marcell <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/braves-news-marcell-ozuna-message-dodgers-will-smith-scuffle" rel="noopener">Ozuna thumped Will Smith</a> of the Los Angeles Dodgers in May. It is understandable that emotions would be high after a head-related injury, but Mikolas cannot put his club in such an unfavorable position. Reliever Dakota Hudson was forced to come in far earlier than he could have anticipated.</p><p>Willson Contreras and Ian Happ were Cubs teammates for six years and even shared an emotional embrace when they thought they had played their last home game at Wrigley Field in 2022 (trade rumors were running rampant). So, no one thinks Happ intentionally struck the man.</p><p>Perhaps Mikolas was just abiding by an old-school code. In any case, all it did was create another low light in a season full of them. Cardinals fans will anxiously wait for an update on their catcher’s health status.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2025 SEASON STATS
BA	HR	RBI	OPS	SB
.227	16	56	0.71	5

2025 SEASON STATS
BA	HR	RBI	OPS	SB
.227	16	56	0.71	5

Ian Happ

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Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas ejected after hitting Ian Happ following Willson Contreras’ early exit

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