The Cardinals can’t score runs consistently. They’re not going to remake their entire roster, and they’ve already tried moving struggling hitters down in the lineup. Though, that’s getting tougher to do as most of the lineup could currently be considered struggling.
There also seems no immediate inclination to replace members of the coaching staff, and there’s not a savior in the minor leagues knocking at the door with the ability to transform the entire offense.
The Cardinals know they’ve got to turn around a struggling offense, among the bottom three in the majors in runs scored, with the resources currently at their disposal.
It’s simply not happening, and that lack of offense manifested itself in a 5-1 loss to the lowly Chicago White Sox in a series-deciding game in front of an announced crowd of 43,046 at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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“We’ve had months like this before where it doesn’t look very good and then we come out of it,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We need to come out of it. A day like today, a series like this one — you’ve got to figure out a way to take this series. We didn’t. We didn’t even give ourselves opportunities today.â€
The Cardinals (15-19) collected just four hits, and they did not draw a walk. They had one at-bat in the game with a runner in scoring position and went 0 for 1. Their lone run came on a fourth-inning solo home run by Willson Contreras, his team-leading sixth home run of the season.
With the loss, the Cardinals slipped behind the Pittsburgh Pirates (16-19) into last place in the NL Central Division.
The White Sox (8-27) entered the weekend with just one road win this season, but they took two of three from the Cardinals at Busch Stadium for their first series win since they swept the Tampa Bay Rays on April 26-28 in Chicago.
This season, the White Sox had won just one series and split one series in their 10 previous series entering the weekend. They’ve gotten off to the worst 34-game start in their franchise’s history.
The lone run for the Cardinals came on a solo home run by designated hitter Willson Contreras in the fourth inning. The Cardinals had just four hits in the game.
Aside from Contreras, the Cardinals only other hits were infield singles from Brendan Donovan (1 for 4), Masyn Winn (1 for 3) and Lars Nootbaar (1 for 3).
Winn snapped an 0-for-16 slump with his infield single, while Nootbaar snapped an 0-for-10 stretch with a single lined off the leg of White Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet in the third inning.
“There’s no panic,†Donovan said. “Obviously, you have some pissed off guys in this clubhouse, but, you know, when you get kicked in the face you’ve just got to continue to show up. So that’s what we’re going to do.â€
The Cardinals began the day near the bottom of the majors in batting average (.217, tied for 27th out of 30), slugging percentage (.333, 28th) and runs per game (3.55, 28th).
White Sox starter Crochet (2-4) had gone 0-3 with a 10.26 ERA in his previous four starts. He held the Cardinals to one run on three hits in six innings.
“Our offensive struggles the last couple days or however long you think it has been, it’s not on them,†Donovan said of the coaching staff. “They do a great job, and they put us in a position to be successful. It’s completely on the players to go out there and do our jobs.â€
Asked about the potential of changing the “voices†tasked with getting the offense on track, a reference to hitting coach Turner Ward, assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen and game planning coach Packy Elkins, Marmol backed his coaches.
“I like the voices we have,†Marmol said. “I can’t speak higher of Turner, BA and Packy and what they do in that department. No one is getting a whole lot of sleep right now, I’ll tell you that. They’re working at it. They’re trying to make sure they’re not missing anything. The communication with the players is really good. It sucks. Bottom line. It just does.
“Yes, we continue to look at everything possible to make sure we get out of this. But these are the players we’re going to win with, and we need to get them going.â€
With the Cardinals offense scuffling, the White Sox broke-open a tie game with a four-run seventh inning.
Left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore made the spot start in place of injured left-hander Steven Matz, who went on the injured list with a lower back strain on Friday. He allowed one run on five hits in 3 2/3 innings and struck out five.
Right-handed reliever Kyle Leahy held the line in relief of Liberatore. Leahy turned in his best outing in the majors with 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Leahy did not allow a hit or a walk, and he struck out two batters.
Contreras’ home run in the fourth inning tied the score 1-1, but the White Sox made noise against right-handed reliever Giovanny Gallegos in the seventh inning.
A workhorse of the bullpen at one time (186 appearances from 2021-23), Gallegos entered the day with an ERA of 9.00 this season in 12 games. He’d allowed nine runs in nine hits and four of the 11 hits he allowed were home runs.
Gallegos got ahead of White Sox cleanup hitter Eloy Jimenez 0-2, but then threw a slider for a ball. He came back with a four-seam fastball on the next pitch, but the 91.3-mph pitch sailed in the upper third of the strike zone and over the outer half of the plate.
Jimenez mashed the pitch 411 feet for a solo home run to center field. That gave the White Sox the lead, and they did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the day.
Gavin Sheets followed with a double, and former Cardinal Paul DeJong doubled to drive in Sheets and mark the end of Gallegos’ outing.
Gallegos (2-1) faced the minimum of three batters, gave up three extra-base hits and all three batters scored in the inning.
Left-hander John King took over after Gallegos, and he gave up a pair of singles, including a one-out RBI single by Braden Shewmake. DeJong scored on Shewmake’s single to account for the third run charged to Gallegos. King gave up one run of his own in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Robbie Grossman.
Grossman’s sacrifice fly made the score 5-1.