The early innings proved costly for Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker as the Cardinals won Tuesday's series opener, 5-2, at Busch Stadium. The Pirates have lost their last two games and dropped their record to 17-24.

Before the game, it was safe to say that Brubaker was Pittsburgh’s best starting pitcher. He had a respectable 2.58 ERA. You wouldn’t think he was the best during the first three innings of Tuesday’s contest.

In the first inning, Brubaker allowed a two-run homer to Nolan Arenado. It was the first time Brubaker allowed a home run with a runner on base.

“That’s a tip-your-cap pitch. I thought I made a good pitch,” Brubaker said. “... He leaned out, caught the barrel and pulled it [over] the left-center [fence].”

In the second, the Cards took a 4-0 lead on a two-run single -- a blooper into shallow left field -- by Tommy Edman. An inning later, Arenado scored on a double by Edmundo Sosa to make it 5-0.

“I thought, early in the game, [Brubaker] didn’t command his slider very well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He missed a couple of spots with his fastball. … For me, this is the first time we saw him have any adversity.”

Brubaker acknowledged that he didn’t utilize all of his pitches early in the game.

“The slider was the main pitch we needed to utilize early on. That was probably the game plan [the Cardinals] saw,” Brubaker said. “I used a heavy dose of sliders. They were probably looking for spin in the zone.”

Suddenly, Brubaker settled down, retiring nine of the next 11 hitters he faced before being taken out of the game in favor of reliever Chasen Shreve. Brubaker found the command of his fastball and was able to execute his pitches.

“That easily could have been a three-inning stint for him,” Shelton said. “But he did a nice job, getting us almost through six [innings], which helped us out.”

Said Brubaker: “After the third inning, I really didn’t nibble. I was still trying to attack the zone. I was still able to mix my pitches, even though some things happened, like Edman’s hit fell in. Some stuff was falling their way.”

The Pirates didn’t do much on the offensive end against right-hander John Gant until the sixth inning. By the time the Pirates did their damage in the inning, Gant was out of the game in favor of left-hander Génesis Cabrera. Bryan Reynolds scored the first run of the game for the Pirates on a groundout by Gregory Polanco. Erik González followed and reached base on an infield single, scoring Will Craig.

"[Gant] commanded the zone. I think that was the big thing,” Shelton said. “We knew the changeup was going to be good. It has been good in the past.”