The St. Louis Cardinals were in the middle of another hot streak and looked to be in prime position to continue their strong June against the lowly Pirates. Pittsburgh had other thoughts, however, and have taken the first two games of the series at PNC Park.

The Cardinals offense continues to be inconsistent and that was on full display in today’s game. Facing off against Paul Skenes, St. Louis had a tough test after being 1-hit by lefty Andrew Heaney in last night’s loss. The Redbirds battled against Skenes and knocked him out of the game after five innings but were unable to push a run across.

Their best chance to score came in the fourth inning when the Cardinals had runners on first and second with two outs. Catcher Pedro Pages hit a soft single to left and rather than hold up Willson Contreras at third, Pop Warner waved the former catcher home and he was thrown out by 10 feet. In a separate note, Contreras left the game after this play due to being drilled on the hand by a Skenes fastball.

Starter Andre Pallante matched Skenes and then some as he was phenomenal during his seven inning start. The righty allowed just one hit and kept the Pirates off the board while relying on his defense. The Cardinals offense was unable to repay the favor and Pallante had to settle for a no-decision despite the quality start.

The game fell apart in the eighth when the Pirates used back-to-back bloop hits to put runners on second and third. Henry Davis drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly against reliever Phil Maton. That one run would be all the Pirates needed.

The Cardinals tried to fight back in the ninth against closer David Bernard and looked to be in prime position to do so. Jose Fermin started as the DH today as Nolan Arenado is battling a finger injury and Fermin drew a leadoff walk. Yohel Pozo was called to pinch hit for Pedro Pages and drove a one-out double to left to put runners on second and third. Victor Scott II put the ball in play with a high chopper to first but Fermin was thrown out on a bang-bang play at the plate that could have gone either way but the call stood after a review. Brendan Donovan was the Cardinals’ last chance at the plate, but took a nasty curveball for strike three, ending the game and made it 18 straight scoreless innings against the Pirates.

The Cardinals went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base in the loss. The consecutive losses keep them in third place in the NL Central and look to salvage the series in the finale tomorrow at 11:35am CST. St. Louis will have an off day on Thursday before heading to Chicago to take on the Cubs in a big three-game series that could help determine the Cardinals plans for the Trade Deadline.