ST. LOUIS -- What started off as a promising road trip ended with a giant thud for the Dodgers on Thursday at Busch Stadium.

While the team’s offense broke out after a three-game lull, it wasn’t enough to offset control issues from Los Angeles' pitchers and a shaky defense. The Cardinals erased two three-run deficits to hand the Dodgers an 11-7 loss and complete a four-game sweep.

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It marked the first four-game sweep for the Cards over the Dodgers since July 15-18, 2010. St. Louis got a three-game sweep over Los Angeles from Aug. 20-22, 2018, at Dodger Stadium.

“I’m looking forward to getting back home,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “That’s a good ballclub over there. They pitched us well. We came out well with good intensity. After that first inning, I thought we were in good shape, but we’ve got to play nine innings.”

It was an abrupt about face for a team that entered the series with a National League-best 8-2 record and a five-game winning streak. In the first three games of the series, an offense that averaged 8.4 runs pushed just five across total. The script flipped in the finale.

Walker Buehler, who entered not having allowed a run in two career starts against St. Louis, surrendered five runs in four innings. After walking the bases loaded in the second, he hit Harrison Bader to score the Cardinals’ first of four runs in the frame. Bader later came home from second behind Jedd Gyorko on a Buehler wild pitch.

“The first inning was good, the fourth inning was good, the middle ones in between not so much,” said Buehler, who struck out five and walked two. “We’ll try to figure some things out, and I feel like we’re getting closer and I’m getting better, but I can’t let innings get away from me like that.”

It marked the third time in their last six games that Los Angeles' starter was unable to make it to the fifth inning.

“It’s certainly not ideal, but if you look at this next series, obviously we’re carrying nine relievers and we’re in a good place,” Roberts said. “It’s something you can’t sustain and it’s not the way we model it, but we still have to find a way to get outs and win a baseball game.”

The Cards batted around on Pedro Báez in the fifth. Baez (0-1) became the second Dodgers hurler to hit Bader with the bases loaded, then gave up a two-run single to Matt Wieters. Another run scored on a Max Muncy fielding error to give St. Louis the lead.

"They have a good club over there,” Bader said. “We just did everything right on both sides of the baseball."

The Cardinals tacked on a run in the sixth after Jose Martinez advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on the same play on a Rocky Gale throwing error.

David Freese, Enrique Hernández and Buehler hit home runs for Los Angeles, which scored in each of the first three innings. It was the first homer of Buehler’s career.

Buehler wasn’t in much of a mood to discuss the homer after his struggles on the mound.

“I’m just not putting myself in the right situations,” Buehler said. “To get into certain counts, I’m doing stuff I don’t want to do. I’m not commanding the fastball enough to be successful.”

All seven of those runs came against St. Louis starter Michael Wacha, who needed 92 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings. Giovanny Gallegos (1-0), making his first appearance for the Cards this season, led a four-man relief effort that shut out the Dodgers over the game’s final 5 1/3 innings.

“We just didn’t pitch well today,” Roberts said. “Didn’t play well. I thought we swung the bats well, put ourselves in a position to win a baseball game, but didn’t play well defensively. This is the first game that I felt on the pitching side across the board, the defensive side, we just didn’t play well.”