Cards fall victim to Marlins in another one-run game

MIAMI -- Fresh off their first series win at Busch Stadium in six weeks and seemingly in position to nab another momentum-building victory on Monday at loanDepot park, the Cardinals instead fell victim to a scenario that has proven all too familiar to them in what is quickly morphing into a lost season.

Up two runs in the seventh inning and riding some highly effective pitching from Miles Mikolas and clutch hitting from catcher Willson Contreras, the Cardinals saw a series of events unfold that took everything they worked to build and washed it away in a matter of minutes. What looked to be an almost sure victory turned into an excruciating 5-4 loss to the Marlins, yet another gut-punch of a defeat for a team still searching for a winning formula late in games.

One statistic almost perfectly sums up the plights of the disappointing Cardinals and the surprising Marlins: St. Louis is 8-17 in one-run games this season, while Miami has gone 20-5 thus far in one-run games under longtime Cardinals player and coach Skip Schumaker, who is in his first season as Marlins manager.

“When we’re losing by one run, we’re trying to do way more than needed,” said Contreras, who had three hits, including a homer, and threw out multiple runners. “It’s just so tough when we’re having so many games that we’re losing by one run. I’m not going to lie -- that puts a lot of pressure on us because we’re just tired of losing games like this by one run.”

A big reason behind the one-run losses has been the Cardinals converting just 20 of 37 save chances this season. The 17 blown saves are tied with the Rays (25 of 42), White Sox (16 of 33), Twins (18 of 35) and Orioles (26 of 43) for the MLB lead in that dubious category.

Said manager Oliver Marmol, whose Cardinals have gotten spotty starting pitching and uneven relief efforts much of the season: “You win one-run ballgames when you have [solid pitching]. You tend to have those opportunities very often when you [pitch well].”

Pitching well is what Mikolas did most of the night, retiring 14 batters in a row and 17 of 18 at one point before two straight walks with one out in the seventh inning. Marmol noted the five line-drive outs during Mikolas’ run of success and made the decision to lift his starter 96 pitches into the game.

When Marmol opted for reliever Andre Pallante, Schumaker used some of his institutional knowledge of the Cardinals and opted for pinch-hitter Yuli Gurriel. Fully aware that Pallante is far more effective against lefties than righties from his time on the Cardinals bench last season, Schumaker turned to the right-handed Gurriel, who lined a two-run double over first base to tie the game.

“I mean, almost anything I know, I learned from the St. Louis Cardinals in some capacity, whether from the coaches, the players or even the front office,” said Schumaker, who won a World Series title with the Cardinals as a player in 2011 and was a bench coach with the Redbirds last season when they won the NL Central crown. “I had a very special time over there.”

Not only has he been surprised at how the Cardinals have slumped, Schumaker believes St. Louis will eventually make a stretch run.

“It’s a good team, and everyone is surprised at the start, but there’s a lot of games left,” he said. “Guys like they have over there have been there, and they know what winning looks like. … You don’t count anyone out until they’re officially done. I’m not counting them out.”

Mikolas talked with Contreras earlier in the day about trying to call his own pitches, and he started the game by doing so, but he quickly backed off that strategy when three of the first four reached on hits and two of them scored. This season, foes have hit .398 off Mikolas in the first inning, but they came into the day with just a .264 success rate off the right-hander after the opening stanza.

“I gave up because I’m not good at calling pitches,” Mikolas said. “Never again! I called my own pitches, and I gave up two runs, so I just said, ‘I’m done!’”

Mikolas wishes the Cardinals were done losing close games, but that has been a recurring theme and one that has sapped the team’s ability to string together any sort of sustained success. Already 10 1/2 games back in the NL Central standings, Mikolas knows the Cards can hardly afford to drop games they’re in position to win.

“You’ve got to do everything right,” Mikolas said bluntly. “Make a mistake and lose a ballgame. When games are that tight, any little mistake can cost you.”