ST. LOUIS — If not for the rearrangement of the rotation to buy Dustin May some extra rest or questions about recent performance from other starters, there would be more attention given to the trapdoor underneath the Cardinals’ offense.

Searching since leaving the pinball machine in Kansas City, the Cardinals’ offensive struggles have gripped their bats tighter than their hands at home this week.

A lack of timely hits has become a lack of hits.

The floundering Cardinals lineup has managed one run in 18 innings against the Miami Marlins this weekend and that has led to a four-game losing streak. A day after being shutout, the Cardinals eked out a single run in a 5-1 loss to the Marlins on Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Marlins starter Ryan Gusto followed the lead of his teammate to test the Cardinals with sweepers, and found success by holding them scoreless through his 3 1/3 innings. Andre Pallante (9-5) needed to be stingier to give the Cardinals a chance, and the Marlins tagged him for five runs on 11 hits.

The Cardinals have combined for 10 hits in two days.

Former Cardinals lefty John King earned the win in relief for Miami.

The Cardinals lost for the seventh time in their past nine games, and their lead in the wild-card race has vanished. Once in front of the pack with the first wild-card berth, the Cardinals now trail teams for the National League’s third wild-card berth.

They’ve scored four or fewer runs in in five consecutive games.

Winn snaps Cards’ dry spell

Although the thirst for runs dates further back than the complete lack of them, the Cardinals snapped their scoreless run of innings in the bottom of the sixth.

They had gone nearly three days, one postponed game, and 14 1/3 consecutive innings without producing a run until Masyn Winn’s RBI single in the sixth.

That came during a stretch where they’ve also been searching for power. In the 10 games before Saturday’s, the Cardinals had eight without hitting a home run and only five homers total in that stretch. Four of them came in the same game, and rookie JJ Wetherholt hit two. The Cardinals slugged beyond expectations to start the season, but the true M.O. of their lineup is collecting baserunners and allowing rallies to emerge from that quantity.

They haven’t done enough of either during this homestand.

And when they got the baserunners they ached for the breakthrough hit.

In the third inning, Wetherholt snapped a personal 0-for-16 skid with a single to left. His two-out hit prompted a burst from the Cardinals that eventually got the inning to cleanup hitter Jordan Walker with the bases loaded. Ivan Herrera had a flare to right for the second hit of the inning, and Alec Burleson got first after working his way back in the count until being plunked by a pitch. Walker got the count full against Marlins starter Gusto before striking out, leaving his three teammates marooned.

It was the sixth at-bat of the series for the Cardinals with a runner in scoring position, and they were hitless in all six.

They did not get another one until the sixth.

Winn cashed in.

Walker sparked the opportunity with a one-out walk, and he advanced to second on Lars Nootbaar’s flare to right field. Nootbaar’s second hit of the game and third time on base set up with for the chance to bring home a run with a base hit. He skipped a single the opposite direction to score Walker and nibbled into the Marlins’ lead, 4-1.

The inning fizzled from there when mid-game replacement Jose Fermin bounced into a double play.

He’s almost a 10, but …

Marlins starter Gusto pitched well but was assured that he would not get his first win as a Marlin when he excited the game in the fourth inning, fives out shy of qualifying for the win.

Pallante pressed on — needing some support in a bid for his 10th win.

The Cardinals’ right-hander had a chance Saturday night to become the majors’ first starter to win 10 games. A day after Marlins’ starter Max Meyer improved to a perfect 9-0, Pallante started Saturday with nine wins, one behind Milwaukee reliever Aaron Ashby for the major league lead. Pallante would have been the first Cardinals starter to reach 10 wins before the All-Star break since Miles Mikolas in 2018 — and he still could be first several starts before the July break. Pallante also had a chance to be the first Cardinal since Adam Wainwright in 2013 to be the first big league starter to reach 10 wins for a season.

Pallante and the Cardinals fell behind by the third batter of the game.

Marlins No. 2 hitter Otto Lopez pulled a triple past Walker and into the right-field corner to set up the run. All-Star Kyle Stowers brought him home with a routine single.

Pallante didn’t have a perfect inning until the fifth inning, and by then the Marlins had built a 4-0 lead against him, step by step. A trio of singles in the third inning generated a run to double Miami’s lead. In the fourth inning, a leadoff double was followed by a pair of singles that purchased a run apiece and a 4-0 lead.

The Cardinals’ right-hander finished with 10 swings-and-misses in the game, and he had eight of them in the early innings. Pallante touched 98 with his fastball and had an assortment of pitches working to miss bats. He struck out four, and two of the strikeouts finished with his slider. The fastball moved enough for Pallante to get four swings and misses against it. While he minimized the use of his sinker, Pallante does invite meek contact and there were grounders getting through for the Marlins.

By the time Pallante left the game in the middle of the seventh inning, the Marlins had 11 hits against him, and he had faced 28 batters,

The 11th hit was a two-out double by leadoff hitter Xavier Edwards.

He scored after Pallante had turned the game over to the bullpen but counted against the right-hander’s line. For the third time in his previous four starts, Pallante pitched beyond the sixth inning.

But the five runs he allowed matched the total of his previous 19 innings.

Going with the Gusto

Recalled from the Class AAA Jumbo Shrimp at the start of this month, Gusto made one relief appearance and then entered the Marlins’ rotation. He’s yet to pitch through the fifth inning of a game this season, and he had exhausted his pitches well before attempting Saturday.

Gusto needed 63 pitches to get seven outs from the Cardinals, and he did so by challenging the wheezing offense in the strike zone. Of the 63 pitches, 41 were strikes.

Following Meyer, who “ripped sweepers” on Friday to hold the Cardinals to two infield singles in seven scoreless innings, Gusto allowed only a walk in his first time through the Cardinals’ lineup. He struck out three batters in that first look, and he started the third inning with back-to-back called strikeouts.

It was the mix of pitches that did it, and some of that likely came from watching Meyer the evening before. Gusto mixed a change-up with a sweeper and a four-seamer, and while he didn’t miss many bats, he did get meek contact and almost as many called strikes on the four-seam fastball (six) as swings (seven).

The Cardinals did not get a hit off either of his change-up or sweeper.

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