The St. Louis Cardinals are in the thick of a tight wild card race. The Giants are not.
On Sunday in St. Louis, that difference was stark. The Cardinals played with a focus and energy the Giants lacked, as an early deficit ballooned into a seven-run lead and turned a close game into a boatrace, one the Giants eventually lost 9-2.
The Cardinals offense started slowly enough in the early innings. Yairo Munoz singled home Jedd Gyorko in the second, and in the fourth, Harrison Bader doubled on a bloop to right and scored on Cardinals starting pitcher Mike Mikolas’ single down the right-field line to put the Redbirds up 2-0.
But the floodgates opened in the sixth. With an array of singles and sac bunts plus a double, the Cardinals put up five runs against a combination of Ray Black, Steven Okert, and Pierce Johnson.
The Giants countered briefly in the seventh. Brandon Crawford launched a two-run homer to right, plating Evan Longoria, who had reached on an error by Munoz. The blast, just the second Giants hit of the game, cut the deficit to 7-2.
But the Cardinals restored the seven-run deficit in the eighth, as Matt Carpenter blasted a two-run homer to right to put the home team up 9-2.
The Giants struggled at the plate all game, especially against Mikolas, who retired the first 11 Giants hitters of the game before Longoria’s pop fly to right dropped in thanks to another error from Munoz. The Giants failed to record a hit until the fifth, when Nick Hundley led off the inning with a double.
The Giants return to AT&T Park Monday for a six-game homestand that includes three games each against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.