OAKLAND, Calif. — With a chance to close out their limited history at the Oakland Coliseum with a winning record and something they’ve been chasing in the present, the Cardinals let a lead slip from them in the middle of the game.

The Athletics bullpen assured they did little about it late in the game.

In what is likely the Cardinals’ final game ever at the Coliseum before the Athletics uproot and head ... somewhere ... the Cardinals misplaced a lead during the fifth inning and lost, 6-3, on Wednesday afternoon. For the Cardinals, it was another missed chance to sweep a series, and they fell to 0-6 this season in the final game of a series. They are now two shy of the team record for losing the final game of a series to open a season, a record that was set in 1898, a few years before they became the Cardinals.

With a win Wednesday, the Cardinals would have also left the spacious Coliseum with an all-time winning record of 6-5. It was on the precipice of .500 Wednesday.

The A’s can leave Oakland with a winning record against St. Louis.

Oakland closer Mason Miller hit 102 mph with the final pitch of the game to conclude his fourth save of the season with a strikeout. Oakland flipped the game in the decisive fifth inning against Cardinals starter Steven Matz. The Cardinals finished 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position, but it was Oakland using productive outs for a three-run rally and a bullpen fiercely holding that lead that decided the game.

Lefty Matz (1-1) allowed a two-run homer in third inning to Esteury Ruiz but had the lead going into the fifth inning. Three consecutive hits and a three-run burst in the fifth flipped the game on him. He allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks. In the inning he needed a strikeout to take advantage of a fortuitous ground-rule double — if there is such a thing — he did not get one of his four whiffs.

Cardinals 1st to crack Blackburn

Oakland right-hander Paul Blackburn (2-0) brought a spotless 0.00 ERA into his fourth start of the season, and it appeared the Cardinals had a clear shot at bruising it before he got an out Wednesday. The first two batters in the top of the first inning reached base. Blackburn regained control of the inning when he got Lars Nootbaar to ground into a double play — one that was challenged by the Cardinals and confirmed by officials in New York.

That left the Cardinals without two runners on base and without their challenge coming out of the first inning.

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