Cards fight off perfect game bid, but recent slump continues 

ST. LOUIS -- Clearly running on fumes after playing for 18 consecutive days, the Cardinals’ top highlight Monday afternoon proved to be breaking up Kansas City’s attempt at the first combined perfect game in MLB history.

It was just that bleak of an afternoon for a Cardinals offense that got back in the division race with a stirring rally in recent weeks, but one that has inexplicably worn down badly in recent days under an unrelenting schedule, statistically poor pitching staffs and another downturn in production.

After the Cardinals had their first 21 hitters in a row retired by Royals opener Josh Staumont and reliever Mike Mayers, St. Louis avoided the infamy of succumbing to the first combined perfect game in MLB history when Nolan Arenado led off the eighth inning by lining a sharp single into left field. Willson Contreras snapped out of a 0-for-27 skid following Arenado’s single, but not much else went right for the Cards in a 7-0 rout by the Royals.

“It’s obviously tough with all these consecutive games in a row, but there’s no excuse,” said Arenado, whose line-drive single off former Cardinals pitcher Mayers left the bat at an exit velocity of 105.6 mph, per Statcast. “Every other team goes through the same thing [with the schedule] and it is what it is. It’s tough as you get older, for sure. But every team is going through this.”

Coming off a weekend where the Cardinals lost two of three to the Guardians -- their first series defeat since May 5-7 to the Tigers -- St. Louis was mostly flat at the plate. After mustering just 18 hits in the three games in Cleveland, the Cards failed to get anything at all going over the first seven innings of the series opener.

Adam Wainwright struck out six, but he allowed three runs over five innings to take his first loss of the season.

Stautmont retired the Redbirds in order in the first and then Mayers -- whose time with the Cardinals was infamously marred by a 2016 start against the Dodgers where he surrendered eight hits and nine earned runs in 1 1/3 innings -- didn’t allow a baserunner over the next six frames.

“That’s the organization that made me a big leaguer,” Mayers said of the Cards. “I’m forever grateful for them. I wasn’t always the best big leaguer over there. … There’s some incredible people over there that really showed me how to be a professional.”

One reason the 19-day stretch has been especially taxing on the Cardinals is the stress that their 10-24 start -- the club’s worst in 50 years -- put on them while trying to get back into the fray. Once 10 games out of first in the pedestrian National League Central, the Cards took two of three from the Cubs at Wrigley, swept the Red Sox in Fenway and then won five times over a six-game stretch against the Brewers and Dodgers at Busch Stadium.

However, that rally came at a distinct cost to St. Louis. Keeping overworked players in the lineup to try and make up ground has led to diminishing returns of late -- something manager Oliver Marmol feared weeks ago when his squad was first trying to dig its way out of its awful start.

“We dug ourselves a hole in April and then we’ve got 19 in a row -- with that combination, you’ve got to [play every day] and the guys wanted to go,” Marmol said. “They wanted to go, and that’s the big part. They wanted to gain ground in May and they did it. Now, we’ve got to finish tomorrow with a win, get those two days off and keep rolling.”

When the first version of the schedule came out, the Cardinals and Royals were slated to have Monday off and play their in-state rivalry series on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the Cards preferred having a home date on Memorial Day, stretching their longest stretch of the season without an off-day to 19 games. A sellout crowd of 45,911 attended Monday’s game, registering as the sixth full house this season at Busch Stadium and the second-largest crowd since Opening Day on March 30.

And hopes of igniting the offense took what could be a major hit when center fielder Lars Nootbaar suffered debilitating back spasms after slamming into the wall with a second-inning catch. Nootbaar tried playing through the pain, but he fell flat on the warning track in the third when pain from the spasms shot down his legs.

The Cardinals are in a hole because of their own poor play early in the season and it’s up to them to play their way out of it, Nootbaar noted.

“I don’t think the 19 games, or whatever it is, is [an excuse],” Nootbaar said. “Everybody has their long stretches. We’ve just got to battle through this.”