(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
On Wednesday night, fans of the St. Louis Cardinals were left feeling a familiar sting after a gut-wrenching 10-7 loss to the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
They had overcome an early 3-0 deficit against Cristian Javier and carried a 7-5 lead into the eighth inning until Jose Altuve and Jose Abreu reversed the trend and put Houston on top.
Though the Cardinals have been playing a little bit better in recent weeks, the bullpen has been the primary culprit of their struggles in June.
Last night marked the 25th time this season that the Cardinals had lost a game after previously holding a lead.
Only the Kansas City Royals and Oakland A’s have more such losses than the Cardinals, as John Denton of MLB.com pointed out.
Pitching problems abound for STL. After coughing up a 7-5 lead on Wed, the #STLCards have lost 25 games in which they held a lead. Only the #Royals (29) #As (26) have more such losses.
Only the #Rockies (6.51) & #Reds (5.91) have worse starter ERAs than STL (4.85) in the NL.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) June 29, 2023
To add insult to injury, the Cardinals have not received good starting pitching this season either.
Their rotation owns a collective ERA of 4.85 this season.
The Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds are the only teams with higher starter ERAs.
The Reds own a 5.91 mark while the Rockies own a 6.51 mark.
But the bullpen was the reason St. Louis fell short on Wednesday.
Right-hander Giovanny Gallegos allowed five runs in just two-thirds of an inning, all of which came on the home runs by Altuve and Abreu.
The loss dropped the Cards to 33-46 on the season after they had moved to within just five outs of a series win against the defending champions.
They’ll turn to Adam Wainwright, hoping to avoid a series loss on Thursday.
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