Cardinals' winning streak ends with 5-3 loss to Marlins

MIAMI — There would be no comeback this time, no scrappy retort to yank the Cardinals back into the game like so many before in this opening month of the season, no extra innings to continue their April excellence after the ninth.

They would give themselves chances.

They would just whiff on them.

Jordan Walker generated the first two runs for the Cardinals with his baserunning in a 5-3 loss Monday to the host Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park. After a feisty weekend sweep of the Houston Astros, the Cardinals’ winning streak ended at five when a few Marlins’ ground balls found their way to the outfield and a few Cardinals’ baserunners couldn’t quite find their way home.

Pete Fairbanks secured the win for the Marlins with his fourth save of the season.

Masyn Winn greeted the right-hander with a leadoff triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to narrow the deficit. Fairbanks struck out the final two batters he faced to freeze the score there and give the Cardinals a baker's dozen of Ks in the game.

The Marlins pounced on starter Michael McGreevy for two runs on three hits in the sixth inning to snap a tie game. Miami had lost seven of its previous nine.

What began in the sixth inning for the Cardinals as they struck out with a chance to bring home the go-ahead run continued in the late innings. Reliever Anthony Bender struck out Walker and Nolan Gorman to preserve the two-run lead through the eighth inning and give the Cardinals 11 strikeouts in the game. Two of those 11 strikeouts came with less than two outs and a runner at third base — each at a time that would have shaped the game.

Going into the ninth, the Cardinals were 0 for 6 with a runner in scoring position.

Three of those at-bats came in the first inning as they missed the gift of two hit batters by Marlins starter Max Meyer. The right-hander would pitch into the sixth and allow the Cardinals two runs on three hits through 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight.

Cards tie game, miss opportunity

The run the Cardinals did create in the sixth inning tied the game, but it was the one they left behind after some opportunistic baserunning that loomed just as significant.

Walker led off the sixth with a walk.

When Winn’s ground-ball single crossed up infielder Xavier Edwards at second, Walker took advantage and advanced from first to third. That allowed him to score on a wild pitch and level the game, 2-2. For the second time in the game, Walker advanced on a wild pitch and baserunning helped him generate the first two Cardinals’ runs.

But in his wake, Winn did something just as impressive.

The Cardinals shortstop advanced from first to third on the wild pitch that scored Walker. That got him to third base with one out — and the gave the Cardinals a crack at retaking the lead with a fly ball or, possibly, just a ground ball in play to the right spot. Instead, Ramon Urias struck out on a pitch from reliever Calvin Faucher that was well outside the zone. Winn was marooned at third to end the inning.

The Marlins would go ahead by two in the bottom of the same inning.

Game gets away from McGreevy

The Cardinals’ starter did not allow a baserunner until the fourth inning.

He didn’t allow a hit until the double that scored the Marlins’ first run.

McGreevy breezed through the first two innings on 20 pitches, needed only nine pitches to retire the side in order in the third. He got 10 outs from the first 10 fish he faced, and he did so not just with economy, but with some zip, too. In the early innings of his start Monday, McGreevy’s fastballs and slider were up, on average, almost 2 mph over earlier outings this season. The Marlins didn’t get a ball out of the infield until the third inning against the Cardinals’ grounder-greedy right-hander.

That first baserunner began the unspooling.

McGreevy walked All-Star Kyle Stowers with one out in the fourth to snap his perfect run to open the game. Stowers then scored on Edwards' ground-rule double that carried past left fielder Thomas Saggese’s route. The Marlins took their first lead of the game on McGreevy’s 50th pitch of the game: That was the one Agustin Ramirez crushed 411 feet for a homer and a 2-1 edge.

McGreevy inherited a freshly tied game to begin the bottom of the sixth.

Four consecutive Marlins would reach base against him, and the most detrimental of the hits was a ground ball that threaded between third base and Urias before pinballing into the left-field corner. That ground ball turned into an RBI double for Otto Lopez, and it put him in position to score on Liam Hicks’ single to center. Only Winn’s fastball home on a cutoff relay kept Hicks’ hit from bringing home two runs and widening the lead to three. Winn covered for a misplay in center with his arm strength to get Edwards by a stride at home.

Backing up home on the play was the last assignment for McGreevy. He allowed more baserunners in in his final inning (four) than he had in his previous fifth combined (three). And the ground balls or flares that got through were enough for the Marlins to get ahead.

Walker’s rally extends his hitting streak

With sharp single up the middle in the fourth inning, Walker extended his hitting streak to 15 games and then did much more with his opportunity.

Walker’s one-out single was also the first hit of the game by either team.

Both starters, McGreevy and Meyer, raced through the early innings. Meyer hit the first two Cardinals he faced, and then he did not allow a hit until the fourth inning when Walker poked a ground-ball single to center. Three Cardinals went 0 for 3 with a runner in scoring position in the first inning, and Walker quickly gave his teammates another chance in the fourth.

He stole second.

He advanced to third on a wild pitch.

That meant he could stride home for the game’s first run on Winn’s sacrifice fly to left field. Winn, who had seven RBIs over three games this past weekend in his hometown of Houston, added an eighth RBI for the road trip for the early 1-0 lead.

After the single in the fourth, Walker was hitting 21 for 61 (.344) during the 15-game hitting streak with seven home runs clustered at the start of it. The run scored to give the Cardinals’ the first lead of the game was his 12th in those 15 games.