Cardinals forced to walk the plank as they're swept by Pirates

After making significant strides to catch up with NL Central in May, the Cardinals have regressed to playing like a group completely uninspired.

The Pirates swept the Cardinals, losing on Friday 7-5, 4-3 on Saturday, and 2-1 on Sunday. Each game was close, yet so far away from victory. The team looked defeated and like they were going through the motions.

One thing has been noticeable. Things need to change. They have attempted some change by calling top-rookie prospect Jordan Walker back up. They announced the move of Steven Matz to the bullpen, with Matthew Liberatore added to the rotation. They designated Tres Berrera for assignment and called up prospect Luken Baker after his success at AAA Memphis. These simple changes were not enough.

After this weekend, the Cardinals fell back into last place with a 25-35 record. Next up for the Cardinals are the Rangers in Arlington.

Cardinals lose Friday 7-5

The Cardinals looked good to start the game Friday, but crashed and burned to close it out.

The team took the lead in the third inning. Brendan Donovan hit a fly ball homer to right, scoring Tommy Edman. The ball traveled 387 feet at 100.1 mph. Nolan Gorman singled to center field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt. Nolan Arenado knocked his tenth homer of the season on a fly to right field. That's right. He hit an opposite-field blast. The homer, which traveled 403 feet at 103.3 mph, scored Nolan Gorman.

The team left 12 runners on base and were 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. This has been a terrible trend for the Cardinals over multiple seasons now.

Jack Flaherty even had a good start. He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up six hits, one walk, and an earned run. He did strike out six batters. Andre Pallante held Flaherty's lead with an inning of work. He gave up a hit and two earned runs. He did strike out one.

Giovanny Gallegos, though, had a horrible outing. In two-thirds of an inning, he gave up three hits and a walk and struck out one. But the four runs he gave up did the Cardinals in on Friday. Carlos Santana hit a ground-rule double to left field, scoring Tucupita Marcano and Andrew McCutchen. Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a fly ball home run to left center field, scoring Jack Suwinski and Santana. Josh Palacios hit his first home run of the season on a fly to right-center field, making it 7=5 for the Pirates.

While Genesis Cabrera did pitch a clean ninth inning, the result was just a horrible outcome for the Cardinals.