ST. LOUIS -- Standing in front of his locker in the visitors’ clubhouse at Busch Stadium, Freddie Freeman didn’t give the question any time to linger.

He’s 2-for-16 at the plate in the National League Division Series. He went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and a double-play grounder in the Braves’ 5-4 loss to the Cardinals in Game 4 on Monday afternoon. How much of a factor has his sore right elbow been in this series?

Freeman answered immediately and quickly: “Zero.”

Unfortunately for the Braves, Freeman hasn’t been much of a factor offensively, either. He crushed a solo homer off St. Louis closer Carlos Martínez in Atlanta’s Game 1 loss, but it’s otherwise been a tough series for one of the Braves’ NL MVP Award candidates. The last three games, the All-Star first baseman has gone 0-for-12 with four strikeouts.

So it’s only fair to wonder if Freeman is still struggling to play through the bone spur in his right elbow, which bothered him last month while he hit .264 with only five extra-base hits in 22 games. He dismissed the idea after Game 4, and he’s hoping to prove in a winner-take-all Game 5 on Wednesday night that this has been nothing more than a poorly timed slump.

“Unfortunately, it’s been a rough four weeks for me,” Freeman said. “Hopefully, it’s all leading into a wonderful Game 5.”

Braves manager Brian Snitker said he didn’t know if Freeman’s elbow was bothering him, but he acknowledged that the durable first baseman -- who sat out only four games over the last two years combined -- wouldn’t admit to it even if it was a problem.

But it seems like more than just a coincidence that Freeman went 4-for-32 beginning on Sept. 13, when his elbow led to an early exit from the game against the Nationals, and those struggles have persisted in the postseason.

“He's going to go out and he's going to play, and he's our guy. And so I don't know that it matters,” Snitker said. “He's not coming out, that's for sure.”

In the first inning, Freeman came to the plate against Dakota Hudson with a man on first and hit into a double play. Freeman struck out swinging in the third, fifth and seventh innings. He came to the plate again in the ninth with the game tied, Ronald Acuña Jr. on second base and only one out, but all he could do was move Acuña to third with a groundout.

In the eighth, Freeman nearly grabbed Yadier Molina’s game-tying single to right. The first baseman timed his jump well and left his feet, but the ball grazed the top of the 6-foot-5 Freeman’s glove and landed in shallow right field.

“I thought it was going in there,” Freeman said. “I just needed to be 6-7.”

If Freeman can help push the Braves into the NLCS with a win on Wednesday at SunTrust Park, nobody will remember much about the rest of the series. But for now, especially after Atlanta struggled to capitalize on chances with runners in scoring position again in Game 4, the middle of the Braves’ lineup is cause for concern.

“Baseball, there’s times you’re going good and times you’re not. They’ve been so consistent in the middle of the lineup all year,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “They can tend to get a little more attention and focus on them, and get pitched real tough. They handle things great, and they’re tremendous. We like them up in big situations and we know they’ll come through when the time is right.”

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Freeman, Josh Donaldson and Nick Markakis -- the Nos. 3-5 hitters for the Braves -- are a combined 7-for-48 (.146) with three extra-base hits and three RBIs in four games. Acuña, Swanson and Adam Duvall have done most of the heavy lifting offensively, making up for the lack of production from the heart of Atlanta’s order.

“It’s just more frustrating for the guys in the middle of the lineup that aren’t coming through, me personally,” Freeman said. “Those guys have done an amazing job so far in this series. Hopefully, we can join in on the fun on Wednesday.”

Donaldson went 0-for-3 with two walks in Game 4. Markakis was 1-for-4 with a walk. They each left a runner on base, while Freeman stranded four runners in five at-bats.

“That’s the postseason. You’ve got the best pitchers. It makes it tough,” Markakis said. “But it was a good ballgame. We battled and came up a little short.”

Given the outcome, every missed opportunity seemed significant in hindsight. The Braves were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. A hit in any of those situations could have been the difference between a champagne-soaked celebration on Monday and a decisive Game 5 on Wednesday.

“You know, it happens. This whole postseason thing is timing, and we had the deck stacked, I thought, pretty good in our favor more than once today,” Snitker said. “And we just couldn't get a hit. It's like all those guys have carried us all year and they did a good job of pitching to them.”