The St. Louis Cardinals lost any and all momentum since their opening weekend sweep, losing five of their last six games. While three of those games were in extra innings and the offense showed out in each, the positive vibes came to a screeching halt after back-to-back bad losses in Sunday’s doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox. The losing has opened up plenty of questions that the team is going to have answer before the end of the season and one of those questions relates to how the rotation will look as the year goes on.

To start with the good news, the Cardinals tied an MLB-record by knocking at least 10 hits in each of the team’s first 10 games. Besides veterans Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras, the entire St. Louis lineup is age 28 or younger, which bodes well for the offensive future of the team. Speaking of Arenado, the oft-mentioned trade candidate has an MLB-leading 14 games showing his rejuvenated approach to this season. Outside of individual performances, the team is top-10 in many important offensive categories, including average, slugging, hits, RBIs, and runs among the others shared below.

Now for the negative. The offense averaged 6.67 runs per game in the three-game series against the Red Sox while Boston averaged 12 runs per game. Wow. To score almost seven runs per game and be swept is a tough pill to swallow and that falls on the pitching. Going into the season, hopes were low for the starting pitchers but the underwhelming performance has stretched to the bullpen as well. During the past six games, Cardinals pitchers put up an abysmal 7.97 ERA while allowing 66 hits and 28 walks in just over 55 innings pitched. What also hurts is that the Chicago Cubs have won five of their last six games during the Cardinals’ struggles so, while it is still early, that stretch drops the Cardinals to third place in the division.

In the three games in Boston, Andre Pallante actually worked the deepest into the game out of all three starters but he only made it 4.1 innings while Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas only pitched into the third inning. In the 10 innings covered by the starters, they walked eight batters and gave up 16 runs, including three homers within their 20 hits allowed. Gordon Graceffo was the 27th man for the doubleheader and he was unable to provide a rest for the bullpen. Graceffo, who will be sent back to Memphis, gave up seven runs and nine hits in three innings.

With three more games of the road trip before the next off day on Thursday, the Cardinals are going to need length out of their starters in Pittsburgh after taxing the bullpen without much to show for it.

NOTES:

• Ivan Herrera, who leads the team with 4 homers, hurt his knee in the first game on Sunday and was helped off of the field. Manager Oli Marmol said that imaging came back clean but the catcher will go on the IL without a clear timetable for a return to the lineup. Catcher Yahel Pozo will be recalled from Memphis to back up Pedro Pages.
• Thomas Saggese played in both games of the doubleheader and went 2-4 with a homer and four RBIs.
• Adding Pozo to the roster will call for a 40-man roster move. Most likely, Zack Thompson will be transferred to the 60-day IL to avoid a DFA decision for the front office.
• Every Cardinal reliever appeared in a game in Boston so it would not be surprising to see another move to get some fresh arms for the series in Pittsburgh.