St. Louis Cardinals lose series to Oakland Athletics

The St. Louis Cardinals lost 7-5 to the Oakland Athletics on Sunday afternoon. Combined with the loss to Oakland on Friday, it marked another series loss by the Cards.
June 29, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter (13) hits a RBI-single to score third baseman David Freese (not pictured) against the Oakland Athletics during the fifth inning at O.co Coliseum. Image Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Westbrook took to the mound for the start. Westbrook did not last long for the Cards. He pitched 4 innings, allowing 10 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, and struck out 3.

The Cards got on the board in the first inning with a 3 run lead only to see that shortened to a 1 run lead in the bottom frame. Carlos Beltran and Allen Craig went back to back with home runs. Beltran’s homer scored Matt Carpenter.

Carpenter led off the 3rd inning with a solo home run that went past the right field wall. Beltran scored as the result of a fielding error by shortstop Jed Lowrie that ended up with Matt Holliday being called safe.

After extending their lead once more in the 3rd inning, the A’s scored 2 more runs in the bottom frame. The A’s scored 2 more runs in the 4th and another run in the 7th.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals just could not put the A’s away and win the series.

After allowing 4 runs to score in April and 5 runs to cross the plate in May, Westbrook has allowed 16 runs to score in the month of June. That said, of the 25 runs that scored, only 20 runs were earned. He has a respectable 2.95 ERA this season but there is no doubt that June was not the month that Westbrook wanted after returning to the rotation following just over a month on the DL.