Oli Marmol shakes up Cardinals lineup in a major way after brutal Blue Jays loss

The St. Louis Cardinals suffered possibly their worst loss of the season on Monday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

After being stymied by Jose Berrios and Toronto's pitching for much of the game, Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera gave the Cardinals the lead after their late-game heroics in the bottom of the eighth inning when Contreras hit an RBI single and Herrera hit a go-ahead three-run home run.

Ryan Helsley entered the game with a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning. The script was written.

However, Helsley failed to execute the save, and he gave up a solo shot to Jonatan Clase for his fifth blown save of the year. The Cardinals would go on to lose the game 5-4 in extra innings.

A shakeup was needed on the roster after such a devastating loss, and Oliver Marmol did just that prior to Tuesday night's game.

Oliver Marmol shuffles up the St. Louis Cardinals roster in a major way, hoping to spark some offensive output.

For starters, Lars Nootbaar gets a night off. Masyn Winn will hit leadoff in his stead. Nootbaar has been the team's leadoff hitter in every game that he's started this year. He's played in 64 games this year. Noot got off to a hot start this year, slashing .263/.400/.439 with more walks than strikeouts in the months of April and March. Since then, Nootbaar's line has dropped to .237/.341/.379, and his strikeout and walk rates have been flipped.

Over the last 28 days, Nootbaar is slashing just .215/.286/.312, and he's struck out 34% of the time. That simply won't do for a leadoff hitter. A day off (and potentially a bump down in the lineup once he returns) could do the left-handed hitter well.

Nootbaar gets the day off, and Masyn Winn, who is slashing .321/.345/.415 with five doubles over the last two weeks, will get the offense started tonight against right-handed pitcher Chris Bassit.

Two other prominent hitters, Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson, have also been bumped up in the lineup. Herrera will hit in the two-hole as the designated hitter, and Burleson will man right field while batting fifth behind Willson Contreras. Herrera has a .536 slugging percentage along with three extra base hits — two home runs and one double — over the last week of play. He'll definitely have a chance to do some damage near the top of the lineup. Burleson has a .305/.349/.455 slash line against right-handed starters this year.

Nolan Gorman also gets his second consecutive start, and he'll bat seventh and play second base. Gorman hasn't been getting many reps lately, even with outfielder Jordan Walker on the injured list. It's imperative that he starts to see more plate appearances to prove his worth.

It's important that the Cardinals win tonight to try and salvage a nine-game home stand before heading on the road to face the Milwaukee Brewers this upcoming weekend. If the Cardinals lose tonight against the Blue Jays, they're guaranteed a losing record this home stand at the start of a grueling June.