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MILWAUKEE — Eager for a venue change after a dreadful homestand and a devastating injury to Willson Contreras, the St. Louis Cardinals arrived at American Family Field on Thursday theoretically fresh after rain washed out their game the day prior.
The rainout broke in the Cardinals’ favor. They were able to move Sonny Gray, who was originally scheduled to pitch Wednesday, to Thursday’s four-game series opener against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. St. Louis, which had lost four straight and seven of its last nine coming into Thursday, direly needed a stopper. Gray and his 0.89 ERA, along with a rested lineup, seemed like the ideal candidate for that.
Instead, the Brewers came out swinging and essentially delivered a knock-out blow in the first inning.
Milwaukee took advantage of a botched play by Nolan Arenado and tagged Gray for three runs in the first frame. The Cardinals had virtually no response. They scored one run on a Lars Nootbaar solo shot. They went 0-for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners in total. Gray gave up six earned runs, four of them off of three home runs.
Final score: Brewers 7, Cardinals 1.
“You get punched in the face, punch back,” manager Oli Marmol said. “It’s the first inning. You got eight more chances. You have to be able to, and we just haven’t been able to, not just tonight, but in general.”
Barreled 🆙@rhyshoskins https://t.co/pMu00lkUcc pic.twitter.com/Zrq8RKazTc
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 9, 2024
The Cardinals are in the midst of their worst skid of the season. They are seven games under .500. They lost their most consistent offensive contributor, Contreras, for at least two months, if not more. They have scored the fewest runs in the National League.
And they have yet to punch back.
“Hitting is hard, but at some point, the lineup just has to come together,” Marmol said. “There’s a group (of hitters) that’s not there yet. It’s frustrating for everybody. At some point, frustration has to turn into a little bit of anger. We have to get it done. Today we did not.”
Pressure was placed on the offense nearly immediately. William Contreras and Christian Yelich recorded one-out singles, putting runners on first and second for cleanup hitter Willy Adames. Adames tapped a groundball to Arenado, potentially bound for an inning-ending double play. Arenado fielded the ball and reached to tag out Contreras, but Contreras dodged the tag. Arenado was forced to keep the play moving to ensure the out at first, but the botched play put two runners in scoring position.
Contreras scored on a wild pitch in the next at-bat. Rhys Hoskins delivered a two-run home run. The Cardinals’ bats never came close to recovering.
“What I should have done is slow down, tag, make sure I get the third-base out,” Arenado said. “I saw (Contreras) take off right away, so I thought I had a chance to field it and tag him like I tried, and he got out of the way. I have to make that play. … I made a mistake. I have to pick up Sonny there and get the out at third, and just keep those runners from being in scoring position. I messed up there. That inning is on me.”
But it’s not like the Cardinals didn’t have ample scoring opportunities. They were just, once again, unable to do so. Their leadoff batter reached base safely five times and Brewers starter Tobias Myers, who entered play with a 6.23 ERA, walked four hitters. The most prime scoring opportunity came in the top of the fifth, when St. Louis loaded the bases with no outs with Nootbaar, Arenado and Alec Burleson due up.
Instead, Nootbaar hit into a force out at home, Arenado popped out in foul territory, and Burleson flied out to right.
“There are games where you just have to do a much better job against a starter,” Marmol said. “You have to create more opportunities against that guy. You got to be able to cash in. The bases-loaded situation definitely was an opportunity, we have to push there.”
“We’re not getting the big hit. You can’t win ballgames scoring one run.”
Even after an April in which they hovered slightly under .500, the Cardinals kept an even-keeled approach. They trusted that hitters would soon find their stride, that a slumping Paul Goldschmidt would eventually break out, that Nolan Gorman and Nootbaar would counter-adjust to the league, that Arenado’s power stroke would return. But after their worst 10-day stretch of the season, pressure is mounting.
“In the first few innings, we’re not scoring, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, we have to hurry up,’” Arenado said. “That’s just not a good way to play. But that’s what happens when this has been going on for a little bit now. It starts to accumulate, it’s not like this happened overnight.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he added. “It’s just disappointing.”
Disappointing sure is one way to describe the Cardinals’ recent trajectory. After an offseason focused solely on improving pitching, it’s the hitting that’s defined their struggles. With its season reaching its lowest point yet, St. Louis is running out of runway in convincing fans this season won’t end up with the same result as last year’s.
In other words: It’s time to put up a fight, while they still can.
(Photo of Nolan Gorman and Willy Adames: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
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Courtesy : https://theathletic.com/5483724/2024/05/10/cardinals-loss-brewers-fifth-straight/