Cardinals avoid the sweep from the Rangers, prepare for Reds

The Cardinals avoided being swept but did lose another series. The Cardinals are still struggling. Will they win a series again?

Hopefully. Apparently, it's still June!

The depth of the Cardinals' struggles to function as a team continues to grow heartbreakingly. The Cards seemingly found new ways to lose but thankfully avoided a sweep at the hands of the Rangers.

The Cardinals return to St. Louis this weekend to take on the equally streaky Reds, who just brought up their top prospect Elly De La Cruz. Here's hoping the Cardinals come out on top and contain the talented youngster.

Let's discuss the Rangers series. It was bad, but some good things happened.

The Cardinals lost to the Rangers 4-3 on Monday

Monday's game was exciting until it wasn't.

Adam Wainwright pitched 5.1 innings, giving up eight hits, two walks, and three runs. He was able to strike out three batters. Andre Pallante pitched 1.1 innings, giving up a hit while striking out three batters. Drew VerHagen pitched a third of an inning. Ryan Helsley pitched an inning, striking out two batters.

Paul DeJong got the Cardinals on the board first with a single to left field, scoring Willson Contreras. The Cardinals made things a little exciting with the Rangers up 3-1 going into the eighth inning. Paul Goldschmidt hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Jordan Walker. Nolan Arenado tied the game at three with a double to left field, scoring Nolan Gorman. Tommy Edman got hung up between third and home, ultimately being tagged out at home. It was a head-scratcher of a play from Edman, who is typically aggressive on the basepath. Arenado ended up at third on the play, but the Cardinals could not produce more runs.

Genesis Cabrera earned his first loss of the season after giving up two hits, including the game-winning, walk-off single to Nathaniel Lowe, allowing Marcus Semien to score.

What a complete gut punch of a way to lose the game.

The Cardinals lost 6-4 to the Rangers on Tuesday

Tuesday brought on another disappointment. They couldn't climb their way out of the frustration.

Matthew Liberatore earned his second loss of the season, pitching four innings, giving up seven hits, two walks, and five runs, four of which were earned. He did give up a home run to Nathaniel Lowe. He did strike out two batters. Drew VerHagen pitched an inning, giving up two hits, including a home run to Adolis Garcia. He struck out one batter. Steven Matz pitched 1.1 innings of relief. Chris Stratton pitched 1.2 innings of relief, giving up three hits and a walk while striking out one.

Nolan Arenado got things going in the first inning with a home run to left center field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt. The homer traveled 406 feet at 99.7 mph. Willson Contreras hit a home run to left center field in the sixth inning. The homer traveled 404 feet at 110.8 mph. Jordan Walker brought the game to 6-4 when he hit a left-field home run. The mammoth shot traveled 430 feet at 110.2 mph.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals again couldn't muster any more offense. The team looked frustrated and miserable, displaying horrible body language that makes you wonder about the team's clubhouse vibe. Getting on a winning streak might help, but who knows with this group.