While starting pitching was the most glaring issue that needed to be addressed for the St. Louis Cardinals, another major concern has arisen.
The starting pitching appears to be improving.
However, the offense has been up and down and once again fell silent on Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After the signing of Willson Contreras, the offense didn’t appear to be an issue for St. Louis.
But 17 games into the season, the team has struggled to score runs despite the depth of their lineup.
On Twitter, Cardinals analyst Brandon Kiley pointed out just how poorly the offense has performed over their last nine losses.
#STLCards runs scored in their past nine losses:
4
1
2
0
1
4
0
3
3It’s easy (and fair) to be mad about the pitching. But this team was built to win behind the brute force of this offense, and they’re not producing. At some point, that has to change.
— Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) April 18, 2023
St. Louis is now 7-10 and have fallen back into last place in the NL Central.
They sit five games back of the Milwaukee Brewers.
While it’s obvious that starting pitching will be a point of emphasis, the offense too has become an area of concern.
The Cardinals have struggled with runners in scoring position and with the bases loaded.
The defending NL Central champions were unable to solve Merrill Kelly on Monday and continued their ominous trend of offensive struggles, falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks by a final of 6-3.
And things aren’t about to get any easier for St. Louis.
They have two games left in their series with the young, upstart Diamondbacks before embarking on a west coast journey to face off with the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
They’ll turn to Jordan Montgomery on Tuesday in hopes of getting back on track and keeping their chances of winning the series with Arizona alive.
NEXT:
Jack Flaherty Had The Perfect Reaction To His Outing Being Spoiled
