ST. LOUIS -- The irony of the Cardinals decision to use left-hander Matthew Liberatore as a spot starter on Sunday was that they needed the converted reliever more than ever in the bullpen on Sunday, a day when they were already shorthanded without three of their top relievers because of previous usage.

Though they were hesitant to move Liberatore out of a relief role where he has found a home, the talented lefty pitched well over a 3 2/3-inning stretch to open the game. However, on this day, the issue for the seemingly snake-bitten Cardinals was their bullpen, where seldom-used relievers Giovanny Gallegos and John King were hit hard. A four-run seventh and more offensive struggles from the Cardinals’ languishing offense paved the way for a 5-1 loss to the White Sox and a series defeat against an eight-win Chicago club.

Where do the Cardinals go after dropping back-to-back series to the Tigers and White Sox and after falling to 1-10 in series finales and 0-6 on Sundays?

“You show up tomorrow and be ready to go -- that’s all you can do,” said leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan, one of just two Cardinals to reach second base on Sunday. “Whether it’s sports or life, when things aren’t going your way, you show up and attack the day. … There’s no panic. ... when you get kicked in the face you’ve got to show up, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Whatever hopes the Cards had of avoiding said kick to the face on Sunday ended when Gallegos failed to record an out for a second straight appearance. White Sox slugger Eloy Jiménez hit a 91.3 mph four-seam fastball from Gallegos 411 feet for a homer that broke the 1-1 tie and the next two batters he faced doubled.

Going into Sunday, Gallegos had surrendered nine earned runs in nine innings pitched to open the season. And the alarming numbers didn’t stop there. Gallegos’ barrel rate has soared from 9 percent in 2022, to 10.1 percent in 2023 to 20 percent before Sunday. His hard-hit rate has climbed from 35.4 percent in 2022, to 46.2 percent in 2023, to 52 percent this season. Also, there’s this: the average velocity on Gallegos’ four-seam fastball has dropped from 94.3 mph in 2022 to 92.1 mph this season.

“It doesn’t look right,” said manager Oliver Marmol, who didn’t have closer Ryan Helsley or top setup man JoJo Romero available on Sunday after both were used on Friday and Saturday and the club wanted to stay away from Andrew Kittredge after he threw two innings on Saturday. “The finish on [Gallegos’] pitches doesn’t look right. The pitches to Jiménez were 90-91 [mph], and the pitch that [Jiménez] hit out, it just doesn’t look like the Gio we’re used to seeing.”

The Cardinals offense doesn’t look like the one that ranked in MLB’s top 10 in production prior to the club selling off parts in late July of last season. Paul Goldschmidt, the National League MVP of 2022, was 0-for-12 with six strikeouts in the three-game series vs. the White Sox, dropping his average to .208 with two home runs.

Nolan Arenado, who carried the Cardinals offensively on Friday and Saturday with five hits and six RBIs, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Sunday. Contreras hit a 426-foot home run to lead off the fourth inning for the Cardinals’ only run of the day, but he struck out in his other three plate appearances. Donovan -- largely a barometer for the Cardinals, as he has hit .291 in wins but just .160 in losses -- struggled through a 2-for-13 series against the White Sox.

“This is a very results-oriented game, and when you feel good in the cage and your routine is good and you don’t get the results, it can be very frustrating,” Donovan said. “I wish I had a different answer, but we just have to keep doing it. We have to find a way to compete, turn our brains off and say, ‘It’s me in the box and that guy on the mound, and I’m going to find a way to win this.’”

Donovan and Marmol spoke up for hitting coaches Turner Ward, Brandon Allen and Packy Elkins, who have come under fire largely because of the offensive struggles.

“I love the voices that we have,” Marmol said. “I can’t speak any higher about Turner, B.A. and Packy and what they do in that department. No one’s getting a whole lot of sleep right now, because they’re working at it and trying to make sure they’re not missing anything. It sucks … but these are the players we’re going to win with, and we’ve got to get them going.”