4 duds from Cardinals series loss to the Astros

The Cardinals could have made huge strides this week in their effort to claw their way back into contention in the NL Central. Instead, they dropped two of three games in spectacularly bad fashion.

The Cardinals just wrapped up won Tuesday 4-2, lost on Wednesday 10-7, and Thursday 14-0.

Jordan Montgomery is now 5-7 on the season after pitching well on Tuesday. He pitched 6.2 innings, giving up six hits and two runs, including a home run to Martin Maldonado. He walked one and struck out six batters. Giovanny Gallegos earned his ninth hold of the season, pitching 1.1 innings and giving up only a hit. Jordan Hicks earned his fifth save of the season, pitching the ninth inning. He struck out one batter.

Paul DeJong got the Cardinals on the board Tuesday with a home run on a fly to left field. The blast traveled 405 feet at 106.3 mph. DeJong hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the fourth inning, scoring Jordan Walker.

In the fifth inning, Nolan Arenado doubled on a fly to right field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt. Arenado advanced to third thanks to a throwing error from Mauricio Dubon. Thanks to a wild pitch from Framber Valdez, Nolan Arenado made a mad dash to score the game's fourth run. Arenado was initially called out. The Cardinals challenged the play, which was overturned, allowing for the fourth run to hit the board.

On Wednesday, the Cardinals got off to a tremendous start. Nolan Arenado knocked a home run on a line drive to left field in the first inning, scoring Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar. The home run traveled 374 feet at 101.6 mph. Alec Burleson hit a double on a line drive to right field, scoring Nolan Gorman.

In the second inning, Paul Goldschmidt hit a solo home run on a fly to left center field. The homer traveled 443 feet at 106.5 mph. Goldschmidt singled on a line drive to left field in the fourth inning, scoring Burleson.

In the sixth inning, Brendan Donovan knocked a home run on a fly to right center field. The home run traveled 416 feet at 104.9 mph. Unfortunately, that was the final run the Cardinals scored during this series. From the sixth inning on, the Cardinals just collapsed.

Next, let's look at what happened in the Cardinals' collapse.