ST. LOUIS — Jordan Montgomery had the bad luck to be pitching for the Cardinals the night after they scored 18 runs. That meant, of course, that they likely were going to struggle to score.
That indeed was what happened on Tuesday night as the Cardinals were held to just two runs, one coming on another Nolan Arenado home run, and saw their four-game winning streak come to an end with the loss to the Brewers at Busch Stadium.
The loss extended a longer streak for Montgomery as he fell to 0-6 in his last seven starts, all of which the Cardinals have lost. Montgomery has not won since his second start of the season, on April 8 at Milwaukee.
In five of those losses, including Tuesday night, Montgomery did not allow more than three runs. The Cardinals have scored a combined 10 runs while Montgomery was in the game in his last seven starts.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Arenado homered for the fifth consecutive game, one off the longest streak of his career, which he did for the Rockies in 2015 … The Cardinnals other run scored in the fourth on a two-out double by Tommy Edman and a single by Brendan Donovan … The Cardinals left at least one runner on base in every inning except the first inning, including two in both the eighth and ninth innings. They left 12 runners on base for the game and were just 1-of-9 with runners in scoring position … Nolan Gorman’s streaks of an extra-base hit and an RBI both ended at five games.
On the mound: Montgomey gave up a run on a pair of doubles in the first inning, then allowed solo homers in the fifth and sixth. He struck out seven and was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. He had allowed only two home runs against 96 batters faced at Busch this season prior to Tuesday night … Jordan Hicks, Andre Pallante and Drew VerHagen combined to allow just one hit over the final 3 1/3 innings.
Key stat: Despite falling back to nine games under .500 at 17-26, the Cardinals have a plus-six run differential for the year. They are just 2-9 in games decided by one run.
Worth noting: The alignment of Donovan in left, Lars Nootbaar in center and Edman in right was the 16th different combination of outfielders to start for the Cardinals in their first 43 games. They have not used any alignment in more than six games … Gorman made his first start against a lefthander but that lasted only one at-bat before Wade Miley had to come out of the game because of a lat strain. Gorman hit into a fielder’s choice in that at-bat and did get another at-bat against a lefthander later in the game and struck out, leaving him 0-of-9 this season against lefthanders … Dylan Carlson (sprained ankle) is still considered day to day. He was able to take swings righthanded in the batting cage on Tuesday and manager Oli Marmol said “we’re going to give it another day and see where he’s at. There was definite progress today.” … Further research after Monday night’s game found that the last time the Cardinals had three players each drive in at least four runs in the same game was on Aug. 9, 1932.
Looking ahead: Adam Wainwright will square off against Corbin Burnes in the final game of the series on Wednesday night.
