ST. LOUIS — Less than thrilled they had to give up an off day in Washington D.C. and lengthen their road trip with a rainout makeup game in St. Louis, the Arizona Diamondbacks took advantage of the pit stop by making sure the biggest deluge in town was theirs.

For the second time this week, the Cardinals took an early lead and then watched the Diamondbacks score the next eight runs or more of the game. In town for what the Cardinals’ billed as a happy-hour game at Busch Stadium, the Diamondbacks assured the locals were happy for about an hour before the storm came. Arizona rallied and then ran away with a 10-6 victory Thursday.

All 10 runs came between the Cardinals' rallies in the first and ninth innings.

The Cardinals’ fifth loss in their past six games, stretching back to this past weekend’s visit with the Snakes in the desert, dropped them further beneath Arizona in the wild-card race.

Unable to hold a lead on the D-Backs has left 1 1/2 games behind them.

Keyed by Jordan Walker’s RBI double the Cardinals jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. It was gone by the third. Arizona reached starter Michael McGreevy for four runs on seven hits through his 6 1/3 innings. Continuing a trend coming out of the All-Star break, the bullpen capsized in the eighth and allowed five runs to basically delay the D-Backs’ charter.

Arizona visited St. Louis in late June, and a request to move the final game of a four-game visit up to an afternoon game and avoid evening rain was denied. That forced the postponement of the game to Thursday, giving the Cardinals 20 games in 20 days coming out of the break and giving the D-Backs a gripe. Closer Paul Sewald took to social media to complain about the Cardinals declining to change the game time.

Turns out, he didn’t even have to come back.

His teammates had a big enough lead going into the ninth that Sewald could have been at the Smithsonian and who would know? That changed when he had to start warming up in the ninth as the Cardinals scored four with two outs.

The Diamondbacks peppered the Cardinals with 16 hits, a baker’s dozen of which came after the third inning. Nolan Arenado did not get an at-bat until his pinch hit in the eighth, and still he left St. Louis with two hits and RBIs in the game. Tyler Locklear wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting lineup and he homered and finished with three RBIs.

Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt allowed four hits to the first four batters and then only three in the Cardinals’ next 20 at-bats. That bought time for the D-Backs to rally and it also continued the Cardinals’ offensive troubles.

Starting with Arizona’s visit in June, the Cardinals scored three or fewer runs in 15 of their 25 games before Thursday's. The tidying up of the deficit in the ninth inning meant this was their 16th game with so few runs. The Cardinals' average and slugging in that stretch ranks last in the National League. They were .216 and .345, respectively, coming into this homestand.

Feted derby champ delivers

For his first home game since the All-Star break, Walker received a new introduction as he came to the plate in the first inning. The public address announcer welcomed him as the “2026 Home Run Derby Champion.”

The crowd rose to its feet for a standing ovation.

Walker doffed his batting helmet toward the crowd.

He then ripped the next pitch for an RBI double.

Walker’s extra-base bolt came in the middle of the Cardinals’ first-inning burst for a lead. The first four batters of the game reached base against Pfaadt. Two of the first three got infield singles against Arizona’s right-hander. The one in that group who did not was Walker. The Cardinals’ right fielder and usual cleanup hitter moved into the No. 2 spot in the order Thursday, spelling fellow All-Star Ivan Herrera, who got his first day out of the starting line of this season. That meant Walker’s first at-bat came earlier than usual, his ovation came earlier, and his double was right on time. He tagged a pitch to the right-center gap for a welcome-home double and sent leadoff hitter JJ Wetherholt home for a 1-0 lead.

Walker advanced to third on Alec Burleson’s infield single, and then Walker scored for a 2-0 lead on Lars Nootbaar’s single to center field.

Before Pfaadt got his first out, the Cardinals had a 2-0 lead.

For Walker, the double traveled 368 feet to split the outfielders and give him as many doubles this season (22) as home runs (22). One of the most curious elements of the Cardinals’ offense this season is a lack of doubles from the team. The Cardinals entered Thursday’s makeup game with the third-fewest doubles in the majors, and with his in the first inning Walker had hit 16.4% of the team’s 134 doubles this season.

Their kingdom for another double in the first.

Then potential of the rally fizzled following Nootbaar’s single. Jose Fermin drew a one-out walk to load the bases and give the Cardinals two cracks making the number in the bottom of the first really crooked. Nathan Church failed to put the ball in play, striking out with the bases loaded. Blaze Jordan flew out to right field to end the inning and allow Pfaadt (5-1) to escape with allowing only two runs.

Those were the only two runs he allowed.

Another lead slithers away

When the Cardinals last faced the Diamondbacks it was on their turf less than a week ago, and the visitors were unable to hold a 7-0 lead Sunday.

The Cardinals controlled the first half of the game, and the D-Backs answered with the biggest rally in their organization’s history to win 8-7.

The Cardinals tried a similar tack with a smaller lead Thursday.

It went just as well.

Out to that 2-0 lead after the first inning, the Cardinals misplaced it by the fourth inning. Spoiler: A leadoff walk started the trouble for McGreevy. Max Kepler drew the walk and then zipped to third on Adrian Del Castillo’s doubled. Within three batters, the D-Backs had carved the Cardinals’ lead in half thanks to Tim Tawa’s sacrifice fly and had the tying run at third with one out. Any ball in play was likely to score the tying run — and it was a ball beyond the field of play that did it.

Locklear wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting lineup at the start of the day. The D-Backs’ first lineup posted and shared with the Cardinals had Ketel Marte at second base and Tawa at first base. Second baseman Marte was a late scratch by Arizona before the game. That forced a rewrite of the lineup and the infield with Locklear entering at first and batting eighth. Other fielders adjusted around him. In his first at-bat he hit a leadoff double that went nowhere against McGreevy. An inning later, he crushed a change-up that landed out there somewhere in the seats.

Locklear’s first homer of the season vaulted Arizona ahead, 3-2, and that was the lead they built upon again and again later.

Corbin Carroll tripled and scored in the fifth inning against McGreevy.

Arizona really piled on in the eighth against the Cardinals’ bullpen.

For the second time in a week, the Cardinals took an early lead against Arizona and then watched as the Diamondbacks scored the next eight runs.

On Sunday it was enough to win, 8-7.

On Thursday, it was a rout.

Arenado: Off bench, into box score

The Diamondbacks’ unscheduled return to St. Louis to make up a rained-out game meant former Cardinals third baseman Arenado would get a second homecoming of sorts, and this time after a career milestone. Arenado’s 1,999th hit was the two-run homer that stunned the Cardinals on Sunday in Arizona.

He collected his 2,000th career hit earlier this week to become one of only six players with 10 Gold Glove awards, 350 homers and 2,000 hits in their career.

Arenado was not in the starting lineup Thursday.

That did not keep him from becoming part of the game.

In the eighth inning, with the bases loaded, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo pinch hit Arenado to give him the chance for another ovation in St. Louis and a swing at really breaking the game open. Arenado received loud applause, tipped his batting helmet to the crowd, and then added on to the Cooperstown-bound career he’s been compiling. Arenado lined a single to right field to score a team as part of the five-run eighth.

The hit was Arenado’s 2,003rd of his career.

The RBI was his 1,231st.

He added his 2,004th hit in the top of the ninth.

It came with his 1,232nd RBI.

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