ST. LOUIS -- Nolan Arenado’s biggest at-bat Saturday -- one in which he battled to foul off four pitches and wisely laid off a spiked curveball before being left with the lumber on his shoulder -- proved to be a microcosm for a cratering offense that has had little to offer of late.

It was just last week when Arenado cycled for the second time in his career and later jump-started a historic four-homers-in-a-row stretch, but the superstar third baseman got swept up in the team’s downright offensive offense in Saturday’s biggest moment. When Arenado took strike three on an air-bender of a curveball from Corey Knebel and failed to drive home the tying run from third, he took a flying leap onto the sword by blaming himself for the latest loss. In actuality, Arenado was far from the only Cardinal to blame on a day when the offense had little more than a whimper to offer in a 1-0 loss to the Phillies.

“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due because [Knebel] made a really good pitch, but I just feel like I blew it there,” said Arenado, who still had eye-black smeared under his eyes and down his cheeks an hour after the game. “That’s just how it’s going, and it’s not working out. I feel like I took some good swings that at-bat. It sucks, but I blew it there.”

Arenado being unable to get the bat off his shoulder in a big spot perfectly summed up the dour feelings about an offense that has been held scoreless four times in seven games and one that has just seven runs in the past 65 innings. A Cardinal team that came into the season feeling like it had the most length in its lineup in years has fallen flat all at once, leading to six losses in a seven-game stretch.

“We’ve just got to find a way to play offensively,” said All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who reached base in the ninth on a fielder’s choice but was also held hitless in four at-bats. “When stuff happens, it turns and there’s usually not a rhyme or reason. Hopefully, we can get a big hit or a breakout inning and things will start to roll again.”

How bad of a rut are the Cardinals in offensively? Because of injuries to starting outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Harrison Bader and an illness to utility infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan, the Cardinals were forced to start four players at the bottom of their lineup -- Corey Dickerson, Lars Nootbaar, Edmundo Sosa and Andrew Knizner -- who came in hitting worse than .200. Ironically, the only offense of the day came from that grouping as Nootbaar and Knizner had the team’s lone hits, Knizner a single and Nootbaar a double.

Dickerson, who was activated off the IL after injuring his calf muscle and enduring a couple of setbacks -- ended the game with a deep fly ball to right field that was caught at the warning track. Like on his final swing, Dickerson feels the Cards are close right now but just missing their target by a small margin.

“Maybe in 2018 or ’19, maybe,” Dickerson said when asked if he ever thought his final fly might leave the park. “I got a heater and I feel like I got to it OK, but it was just a hair or two off the sweet spot. I also hit it in the wrong place.

“We’ve really got to relax and try to do less,” added Dickerson, who has seen various offenses struggle in his MLB career. “I think when you cheer your teammates on and worry less about yourself so much, good things tend to start happening. It’s hard [to not press] because we’re playing to everybody else’s expectations. It’s a game or performance and it’s hard to not press, but sometimes the best way to [break out] is to simplify things.

The biggest roar of the day from the Busch Stadium crowd of 41,853 came when Albert Pujols was announced as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. A night before, Pujols -- who has been stuck on home run No. 683 for weeks -- drove a ball to the left-field wall. Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn’t give Pujols a chance to hit there, ordering an intentional walk, and was booed by the home fans.

The threat ended when rookie Nolan Gorman -- who has been working for weeks to get better against left-handed pitching -- flew out to left field.

In essence, the game ended in the ninth when Arenado couldn’t pull the trigger on Knebel’s knee-bending curveball.

“We’re just in a rut, having trouble scoring runs and we’re not driving the ball,” Arenado said. “That’s what it comes down to. There’s just no power lately. It’s hard to rally with the shifts and all that, so we’ve got to drive the ball and we’re not doing that.”