2 discouraging, 1 encouraging signs from Cardinals series loss to D-Backs

Discouraging - Pitching

Jack Flaherty is now 1-2 on the season after pitching six innings, giving up four hits, three walks, and four earned runs, including a home run to Ketel Marte. Again, Flaherty had another performance where he looked great, and after a while, he just faded.

With two runners aboard, manager Oli Marmol brought Andre Pallante in for relief. With Lourdes Gurriel and Christian Walker on, Pallante walked Corbin Carroll. Pallante then served Pavin Smith a pitch in launched for a grand slam.

This tweet from The Athletic's Katie J. Woo with a screenshot of Jack Flaherty's reaction to this home run sums up the frustration from this homer.

Pallante was optioned to AAA Memphis for Jojo Romero. The hope is to get Pallante back on track after a disappointing start to his season. Romero will be able to provide relief in the late innings as a lefty arm.

Jordan Montgomery earned his second loss of the season Tuesday. He pitched four innings, giving up ten hits, one home run, and seven earned runs. He did strike out two batters. Chris Stratton pitched 2.1 innings of relief, giving up two hits and one earned run. He did strike out a batter. Jojo Romero pitched 1.2 innings of work, giving up one hit, and one walk while striking out a batter. Jordan Hicks threw well in his inning of working, giving up a hit while striking out three batters. It is nice that even though he is working on things at the major league level, he is being effective.

Jake Woodford earned the win with five innings of work Wednesday. He gave up seven hits and four runs, including two home runs to Alek Thomas and Pavin Smith. Zack Thompson pitched an inning of relief, giving up two hits while striking out three batters. Drew VerHagen pitched an inning, walking one and striking out two batters. Genesis Cabrera pitched an inning while giving up two hits and an earned run while striking out two batters. Jordan Hicks took the mound in relief once more, pitching an inning. He walked one and struck out two batters. This is a nice improvement for Hicks. Here's hoping he uses this to continue to improve.

Encouraging - They don't give up

While the team is very frustrating, most nights you can tell the team doesn't give up.

The Cardinals got on the board in the sixth inning on Monday. Willson Contreras hit a double to center field to score Brendan Donovan. He seems to have broken out of his new location slump, and it's wonderful to see.

In the eighth inning, the Cardinals were down 6-1. Alec Burleson knocked a home run to right field to score Tommy Edman. This was Burleson's second homer of the season.

The Cardinals came up short in a late-inning comeback attempt Tuesday.

Paul Goldschmidt got the team on the board in the first inning with a homer to left field. The blast traveled 403 feet at 107.5 mph.

In the second inning, Tyler O'Neill scored after a successful challenge on a force play from a Lars Nootbaar single. In the sixth inning, Dylan Carlson doubled to center to score O'Neill.

In the seventh inning, Willson Contreras knocked his first home run as a Cardinal. The homer traveled 441 feet to left-center field at 111.2 mph. This is great to see from Contreras.

In the ninth inning, things looked to turn around for the Cardinals. Alec Burleson ground out to the second base, allowing Lars Nootbaar to score. Contreras knocked his second home run of the evening. The homer traveled 353 feet to the right field at 105.3 mph. Paul Goldschmidt was on base for Contreras's homer.

The Cardinals fell just short of a huge comeback, losing 8-7. It was nice to see they had some fight to accomplish this and not just give up when they were down. It makes what happened Wednesday all the better.

The Cardinals looked like a much-improved team Wednesday. The Cards got on the board in the first inning as Dylan Carlson knocked a double to center field, scoring Tommy Edman. Carlson stole third, while Nolan Arenado stole second base, and a throwing error from Jose Herrera allowed Carlson to score. Willson Contreras then hit a double to left field, scoring Arenado. The Cardinals led 3-0 after the first inning.

Jordan Walker singled to center field in the third inning, scoring Contreras. Tommy Edman made the score 7-3 after hitting a home run to left field, scoring Walker and Tyler O'Neill. Edman's home run traveled 373 feet at 104.3 mph.

Edman tripled to center field in the fifth inning, scoring Walker and Andrew Knizner. Carlson singled to score Edman.

In the sixth inning, Nolan Gorman hit a grand slam home run to right center field, scoring Contreras, O'Neill, and Walker. The home run traveled 417 feet at 109.4 mph. Gorman is having a fantastic start to this season. Here's hoping it continues.