ST. PETERSBURG -- Regarding the troubling state of affairs among Cardinals relievers not named Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos or Génesis Cabrera emerged this sobering fact from an otherwise forgettable Wednesday: Catcher Yadier Molina’s one inning of scoreless relief proved to be the best outing of the night from St. Louis' bullpen.

Told of that fact after recording the first strikeout of his 19-year MLB career and keeping the ball as proof of the feat, Molina’s head dropped as he said, “Oh, that’s not good.”

A night after reliever Drew VerHagen surrendered a two-out two-strike walk-off home run to light-hitting shortstop Taylor Walls in an unsightly loss, Cardinals relievers Johan Oviedo, Nick Wittgren and T.J. McFarland were hammered for seven earned runs on 11 hits and four walks in an 11-3 loss to the Rays on Wednesday at Tropicana Field. Packy Naughton got the start and didn’t fare much better, allowing four runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. Naughton, who made his third start of the season, also didn’t help himself by trying to field a grounder with his bare hand and misjudging his steps while covering first base -- both plays resulting in Rays reaching base.

Wednesday’s ugly showing left manager Oliver Marmol very frustrated and even somewhat embarrassed. The issue continued to be the fact that the Cardinals haven’t had much luck in finding consistent pitching out of their bullpen when going to someone other than Helsley (2-0, four holds, three saves, 0.40 ERA), Gallegos (eight saves, one hold, 3.32 ERA) or Cabrera (3-1, seven holds, 2.16 ERA).

“You can’t keep asking those guys to throw multiple innings like we have,” said McFarland, who couldn’t enjoy his 33rd birthday Wednesday after allowing three runs on five hits and two walks and forgetting how many outs there were in the sixth inning to extend the misery. “Of course, they’ve all had tremendous success and they’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t ride those three guys as hard as we have the last couple of series. Some guys, including myself, have to step up in the ’pen, which we’re capable of doing. We have a nice ’pen now, and it’s going to be even better.”

Injury losses among starters Jack Flaherty (one rehab start in Double-A), Steven Matz (a setback to delay his rehab start) and Jordan Hicks (right forearm flexor strain) have further weakened the bullpen. Rookie Andre Pallante (1-0, four holds, 1.23 ERA) was moved into the starting rotation Sunday, and he’ll start again Friday to provide an extra day of rest for Adam Wainwright.

Marmol said the impact of losing Pallante -- a valuable “bridge” reliever between the starters and the back end of the bullpen -- was felt in Tuesday’s 10th-inning loss to the Rays. With Gallegos and Helsley largely gassed after a taxing weekend and Cabrera not available after throwing 58 pitches Sunday, Helsley and Gallegos were limited to one inning of work each Tuesday. That left VerHagen (3-1, one hold, 4.96 ERA) to pitch in the 10th with a one-run lead. The result was Walls’ walk-off homer off the foul pole for the Cardinals’ most crushing loss of the season.

“Pallante is very valuable, because when you look at the game [Wednesday], he’s probably pitching the eighth, and those other guys [Helsley and Gallegos] are backing him,” Marmol said. “That [bridge] role is often overlooked, but the reality is it’s a big spot.”

Despite McFarland’s shaky results Wednesday, Marmol said the usually reliable lefty is “trending as well as he has all season” after inducing more than a half-dozen ground balls to the Rays. That did little to ease McFarland’s frustration.

"You can tell from the ground balls they were hitting it's a good sign for me,” McFarland said. “There's still work to be done and I need to throw up some zeroes, especially knowing how many outs there are in a [expletive] inning."

Marmol, MLB’s youngest manager at 35 years old, said he purposefully limited the team’s usage of Helsley, Gallegos and Cabrera early in the season to avoid overworking them. Now that the season is well into June, he said he will begin to back off those restrictions some.

“You give up that homer [Wednesday] and say, ‘Could Helsley have thrown that inning?’ Yes, he could have,” Marmol opined. “But I sleep better at night knowing that we gave up a three-run home run on a bad pitch instead of Helsley walking in today and saying, ‘I need an MRI.’

“At some point, other people need to get outs,” the manager said with conviction. “That’s the bottom line.”