ST. LOUIS -- Sights that were, only weeks earlier, set on October are now mostly transfixed on what the Giants can glean from September. And yes, they believe there’s something to be salvaged.

It won’t necessarily come in the standings, where the Giants fell six games below .500 with their fourth consecutive loss, a tough-luck, 1-0 defeat to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Tuesday. Instead, they’ll look for progress on a more individual level, seeking evidence that what could come may be better than what has been.

• Box score

Dereck Rodríguez is among those looking to use September as a stepping stone, and Tuesday’s performance, the result notwithstanding, was superb. He matched his season high with seven innings pitched, and he scattered five hits and a walk while striking out a season-best seven batters.

That one of the hits was a 393-foot home run by Marcell Ozuna was the only downside, as the blast was all the Cardinals needed to ride Jack Flaherty’s one-hit, eight-inning start to victory.

“I was just trying to match him,” Rodriguez said of Flaherty, owner of the Majors’ lowest ERA (0.85) since the All-Star break. “We were battling for a while, then just one pitch. When you see him doing [what] he was doing out there, it gives you a little kick.”

For Rodriguez, the bounceback performance followed a pair of starts in which he allowed a combined 11 earned runs over nine innings. It was also a reminder as to why the Giants remain intrigued by his future potential, despite a tumultuous sophomore season.

A right-hander who, a year ago, posted the lowest ERA (2.81) by a Giants rookie since 1952 (min. 100 innings) has not so easily repeated that success in his sophomore season. Rodriguez’s year has been interrupted by four demotions to Triple-A and a stint in the big league bullpen. He entered Tuesday with a 5.40 ERA in 13 starts.

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Ending with a strong September, however, could alter the narrative.

“I think it could be important for him as he goes into the offseason to pitch well this month,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s been an up-and-down year for him, and that’s including going from here to [Triple-A] Sacramento. I’m sure he’d like to finish strong. I think it’d be big for him. And he looked very determined tonight. It was a good bounceback off a tough start. He really pitched well.”

Rodriguez’s night started off with a bases-loaded mess that he escaped by retiring Yadier Molina on the 22nd pitch of the frame. He then matched Flaherty until Ozuna went deep in the sixth, though Rodriguez settled back in to retire the final four batters of his night.

His approach was markedly different than it’s been most of the season, as he relied almost equally on his four primary pitches. Included among his 94-pitch effort were, according to Statcast, 22 four-seamers, 22 changeups, 21 curveballs and 21 cutters. In contrast, Rodriguez entered the start having relied on his four-seam fastball 42 percent of the time.

What operated as a specific approach against a Cardinals club that feasts on fastballs may also have provided Rodriguez with a new blueprint for how to best utilize his repertoire moving forward.

“I mean, I threw [them] a lot for strikes today,” Rodriguez said. “So I might just continue doing that in the future.”

He’ll have an opportunity to do so -- and probably again on this road trip. With news late Tuesday that Johnny Cueto had a slight setback in his push to return from Tommy John surgery, the Giants are likely to cycle through the rotation at least once more before making any changes.

The task for Rodriguez then becomes making the most of an opportunity to use September as a springboard.

“Sometimes you can come out and have a good first year, and the second year can be a little bumpy,” Bochy said. “He’s been around the game. He has the bloodlines. If anybody can handle what he’s had to go through, it’s him. He did that tonight. I was proud of him. He did a good job putting the last start behind him against a tough lineup and did just a beautiful job.”