This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. LOUIS -- The best news yet for a Cardinals starting pitching staff that spent much of the past six games getting knocked around Busch Stadium was this: Injured veteran Adam Wainwright felt strong after throwing a first bullpen earlier this week, and a second session will come on Thursday.

Soon, Wainwright -- who made headlines for singing, not pitching, on Opening Day because of a groin strain -- could have a Minor League rehab assignment that might position him for a return by the seven-game homestand in mid-April against the Pirates and D-backs. A return by the 41-year-old Wainwright would come as a boost considering the woes of a forgettable first week.

After Miles Mikolas was tagged for five runs in the Cardinals’ 5-2 defeat vs. Atlanta on Wednesday, the 2-4 Redbirds were forced to pack a staggering 7.14 starters’ ERA with them for a road series in Milwaukee. Mikolas, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract extension prior to the season, has given up 19 hits and nine earned runs in 9 1/3 innings.

Six of those runs came in the first inning against the Blue Jays and Braves combined. The inability by Cardinals starters to avoid early damage has been a recurring theme of late, as they have been outscored, 20-6, in the first two innings, with deflating deficits of 3-0, 6-1, 4-0 and 3-0 staring at them in recent games.

“It’s my job to go out there and set the tone, and I didn’t do a great job of that,” Mikolas said on Wednesday. “We’re pitching well, but we’re making mistakes here and there. You get into patterns where it seems like every mistake you make turns into a big hit or a home run. Then, there are weeks and starts where every mistake you make, a guy gets big and pops up on the infield. Baseball is a funny game like that.”

There’s been little funny about a start to the season where the starters have had just four clean innings out of 29. A rotation of Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Jake Woodford, Steven Matz and Mikolas has yet to tally a quality start.

Flaherty, Friday’s starter in Milwaukee, is the closest thing the squad has to a true ace, but even he walked seven hitters against Toronto while struggling to locate his fastball. Montgomery, who like Flaherty can be a free agent at season’s end, nearly coughed up a four-run lead in his first start. Woodford gave up three homers -- including a 473-foot blast to Atlanta’s Austin Riley -- in his first outing as Wainwright’s replacement, while Matz was once again bedeviled by a big inning as he tries to author a bounce-back season.

Manager Oli Marmol, who made a big deal out of Tyler O’Neill refusing to properly hustle around the basepaths on Tuesday, is not making a big deal out of the pitching woes. He feels the group will eventually find its footing.

“When you look at our past week, is it ideal? No, it is not, but there are some bright spots there,” Marmol said. “I don’t put a whole lot of weight or overreact to the first outing. We’ll continue to lay eyes on it.”