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

Cardinals struggle from behind for rest of weekend

Jordan Montgomery got his seventh loss of the season Saturday after pitching 5.2 innings, giving up four hits, four runs, one of which was earned, and a walk. He did strike out five. He gave up a home run to Hayes in the fifth inning.

Connor Joe doubled to left field, scoring Ji Hwan Bae and Bryan Reynolds. Carlos Santana singled to left field, scoring Joe.

Jordan Hicks pitched one-third of an inning, giving up two hits and striking out one. Steven Matz pitched one inning, giving up two hits and striking out one batter. Chris Stratton looked great in his return to PNC Park. In the eighth inning, he struck out three batters. No hits. It was a bright spot for the bullpen.

Offense-wise, the Cardinals continued their struggles. The team went zero for five, with runners in scoring position, leaving seven on base.

Willson Contreras hit a fly ball home run to right center field for the Cardinals in the second inning. The homer traveled 404 feet at 105.7 mph. In the eighth inning, Nolan Gorman hit a fly ball home run to right field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt. The blast traveled 404 feet at 108.1 mph.

With two home runs, it's just sad the Cardinals could not have capitalized with runners in scoring position.

Cardinals looked sluggish for Sunday morning baseball

The Pirates got all the runs they would need in the first inning. Miles Mikolas gave up a single to Ji-Hwan Bae, allowing Bryan Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes to score.

Mikolas earned his second loss of the season. He pitched five innings, giving up ten hits and two runs while striking out two batters. Genesis Cabrera had a clean 1.2 innings of work. Jordan Hicks pitched 1.1 innings, walking one and striking out three batters.

The Cardinals struggled again at the plate, though. The team was zero-for-five with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

Baker was 2-for-4 in his debut for the Cardinals. Baker is from Spring, Texas, and went to Texas Christian University. Hopefully, he has a huge return home to Texas for the Cardinals. Walker was 0-for-4 on Sunday. He was 1-for-5 on Friday and 1-for-3 on Saturday. Hopefully, he will settle down after his return to the Cardinals and start producing.

The rest of the team, however, needs a big jolt to get something of significance going.