ST. LOUIS — Brendan Donovan didn’t have to be in the starting lineup to change the game.

Hours after testing how he felt after missing two days with a groin injury and eyeballing a return Tuesday night, the Cardinals’ lone All-Star came off the bench and into the highlights. Donovan drilled a two-run, pinch-hit double in the eighth inning to yank the Cardinals out of their stupor and carry them to a 3-2 victory against Colorado on Monday at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals failed to provide starter Miles Mikolas with any semblance of the lead he deserved for toying with a no-hitter early and providing nearly seven sturdy innings.

Chances came and chances went for the Cardinals.

They were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and struggled to produce anything against Rockies starter Chase Dollander and his 6.68 ERA in the majors. The Cardinals trailed by a run when an eighth-inning uprising reached the final two spots in the lineup. Nolan Gorman earned a walk, and Thomas Saggese followed with his third hit of the game. That brought catcher Pedro Pages to the plate — until it didn’t.

Donovan was a late scratch from Saturday’s game against the Cubs due to soreness in his left groin. He remained out of the lineup Sunday night as the Cardinals won that series. The Cardinals harbored hope that he would return to the lineup Monday when the Rockies came to town, but instead opted to use that day to give Donovan a chance to test how he felt through warmups. He darted around the field chasing grounders. He took batting practice. He pelted right field with line drives.

And in the eighth he came up to the on-deck circle instead of Pages to take the game’s pivotal at-bat against Rockies reliever Juan Mejia. Donovan fell behind on the first two pitches. He ignored one out of the zone.

He planted a slider in right field.

Pinch-runner Garrett Hampson scored easily to tie the score, and Saggese scored from first for the lead. That made a winner of Colorado native Kyle Leahy (3-1) for his 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief after Mikolas. The veteran right-hander allowed two runs on four hits and both of the runs came in the same inning — the seventh, his final inning.

From no-no to oh-no

In his first start since a frustrating one in Los Angeles that dinged him for five runs in only three innings at Dodger Stadium, Mikolas whipsawed through the Rockies lineup twice and teased a no-hit bid through the first half of the game.

Unfazed by the error that put the first runner on base against him, Mikolas took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He retired the first seven Rockies he faced and got into the sixth inning by retiring eight of his previous nine. A walk in the midst of his start was quickly forgotten when Mikolas got a groundout from the next batter.

When the no-hitter vanished, it wasn’t long before the lead did, too.

Mikolas pitched most of his 6 2/3 innings with only one run of support.

Three of the four hits he allowed came in a burst that ejected him from the game.

Two batters into the sixth, and leadoff hitter Tyler Freeman cracked the no-hitter in his third look at Mikolas. In the seventh, Freeman’s teammates in the back half of the lineup saw Mikolas for a third time and let loose three hits.

The rally began with an infield single that third baseman Nolan Gorman attempted to barehand. Since Nolan Arenado went on the injured list and the Cardinals could commit starts to Gorman – the third baseman they had in mind if they traded Arenado – the new everyday third baseman has struggled with the throws. He committed two throwing errors in Monday’s game, and those were his third and fourth errors in his past eight games at third.

His error in the seventh allowed Jordan Beck to turn that infield single into standing at second base. He took third on a line-drive single to center by Mickey Moniak and scored on a groundout to tie the game, 1-1.

Mikolas got two groundouts to slow the inning.

Then No. 8 hitter Brenton Doyle dropped a single into right field to score Moniak for a 2-1 lead. What had been a no-hitter just an inning earlier was now a deficit and a reason to relieve Mikolas from the mound.

Steal No. 30, run No. 1

A leadoff walk in the third inning gave Victor Scott II a license to steal and continue his run toward the league lead for the season.

Scott stole second base in the third inning for his 30th of the season. He became the seventh player in the majors to steal at least 30 this season, the fourth in the National League. And when he stole second again in the sixth inning, Scott moved within three of tying Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz for the NL lead.

The center fielder’s first steal of the game put him in scoring position for what became the game’s only run of the first six innings.

Scott watched from second as two teammates were unable to advance him, and then with two outs Alec Burleson pulled a single to right field. Burleson’s 52nd RBI of the season gave Mikolas the 1-0 lead he spent most of his start protecting.

In the sixth, Scott was one of two runners in scoring position that the Cardinals failed to advance to add to the lead. That proved costly the next inning.

Bruising foul ball hobbles Nootbaar

Outfielder Lars Nootbaar crashed a foul ball off the back of his knee (left) during an at-bat in the third inning and hopped away in clear pain. He required the assistance of the trainer to take weight off of his left knee for awhile before being able to flex it, bend it, and stand on it to remain in the game. The comfort did not last.

Nootbaar was removed from the game three innings later and taken for X-rays. They did not show any structural damage, a club official said during the game.

Nootbaar was ruled day-to-day with a bruised left knee.

In the third, Nootbaar grounded out and attempted to outrun the throw. He took another at-bat in the fifth inning and popped up, looking uncomfortable as he ran toward first. Jordan Walker replaced Nootbaar in right field for the top of the sixth inning — and the first three balls put in play were to right field.

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