With plans to use a right-handed starter in relief to piggyback off the lefty set to begin Monday’s series opener against the Cubs, the Cardinals managed to avoid taxing their bullpen but could not avoid some constant contact from Chicago.

Left-hander Matthew Liberatore started the Cardinals’ series opener against their longtime rival by allowing a run apiece to score in each of his first three innings. And when he was replaced by right-hander Hunter Dobbins following eight hits allowed in 3 2/3 innings, Dobbins surrendered four runs on six hits in the Cardinals’ 7-3 loss at Busch Stadium.

The loss dipped the Cardinals to 53-53. They had been above .500 each day beyond April 13, when they sat at 8-8.

While Cardinals pitchers allowed the Cubs to piece together 14 hits, two of which were homers, their hitters were held to six hits despite a matchup against a starter they had success seeing.

Having collected 16 runs and 16 hits against left-handed starter David Peterson in the two times they’ve seen him this year, it was Peterson who got the better of the Cardinals in their third encounter.

Peterson, who was tagged for 10 runs on July 3 at Wrigley Field, kept the Cardinals to two runs on three hits over 5 2/3 innings. Peterson gave up one run on a solo homer to Jose Fermin. The other run scored after Peterson exited and had given way to reliever Gavin Hollowell with a runner on second base and two outs in the sixth inning.

The Cardinals produced a pair of late swings that brought some life to the announced crowd of 24,209, but both ended in outs.

In the seventh inning, Jordan Walker sent an 0-0 pitch from reliever Trent Thornton to deep left field with a runner on first base. The fly ball had a 99.9 mph exit velocity and looked like it may carry for a game-tying homer before it ran out of steam on the warning track. And in the eighth, Ivan Herrera led off by rocketing a line drive off the left field wall for a potential extra-base hit. However, Herrera was thrown out at second base by Ian Happ.

The two-run gap widened to four with Nico Hoerner’s homer in the ninth.

Falling behind early

In his first trip through the Cubs’ order, Liberatore surrendered two runs on five hits and walked one batter. The damage came as the lefty fell into a 1-0 count against seven of the first nine hitters he faced.

Liberatore began leadoff hitter Pete Crow-Armstrong in a 2-0 count before walking him on six pitches. An at-bat against Seiya Suzuki began with two pitches that missed well above the strike zone and ended with a double that gave the Cubs a runner in scoring position after Crow-Armstrong was picked off during Suzuki’s at-bat. The lefty started Alex Bregman with a curveball that missed well above the strike zone, then allowed him to double on a 1-2 slider to score Suzuki for the game’s first run.

One-out singles in the second inning allowed Dansby Swanson and Miguel Amaya came in at-bats that began with a ball. The two hits moved Hoerner from first base to home for the second run Liberatore allowed.

The at-bat against Hoerner was one of the two Liberatore began with a ball during his first time through the Cubs’ lineup, but that first pitch strike was hit for a single.

Big Mac Bomb

Fermin hit what marked his sixth career homer and the longest of the six when he stepped up to the plate with two outs in the third inning.

Fermin swatted a first-pitch fastball from Peterson and sent it 407 feet to left field for a solo homer. The homer landed in the seats of Big Mac Land. It traveled three feet further than his previous career-long homer.

Fermin’s swing provided the Cardinals with their first run of the series opener after he gave them one of the two runs they scraped across in a Sunday loss to the Reds.

Against Cincinnati, Fermin gave the Cardinals, who have been grounded offensively since the All-Star break, the first of their two runs with a sacrifice fly to left field in the second inning of a loss that took 10 innings to finish.

An awkard K

Herrera’s strikeout in the sixth inning came without him seeing or swinging at a third strike. Instead, the Cardinals catcher struck out on a pitch clock violation after he requested a second timeout.

Hitting in a 3-2 count with one run on and no outs against Peterson, Herrera called for a timeout and was granted it by home plate umpire Clint Vondrak. After Vondrak granted the timeout, the umpiring crew met on the infield for a discussion, which resulted in Herrera being charged a third strike for using a second timeout in his at-bat.

Herrera’s strikeout on what was ruled a batter timeout violation was the first out of an inning where the Cardinals strung together enough offense for their second run of the game.

Following a groundout by Alec Burleson that moved Walker to second base and marked the final batter Peterson faced, a single from Masyn Winn collected against Hollowell scored Walker from second base. An at-bat later, Winn scored from second base on a double by pinch-hitter Bryan Torres.

The rally stopped at two runs in the at-bat that followed Torres with a ground out by Fermin.

Can’t cut them down

Already down by two runs at the start of the fifth inning, the Cardinals saw their deficit double on a grounder that reached center field with their infield drawn in.

Dobbins worked with runners on second and third base, one out, and Hoerner up to bat in a 3-1 game. The two-run deficit and threat of two runners in scoring position led the Cardinals to bring their infield in hopes of nabbing the lead runner if a ball in play meant he could break for home.

Hoerner’s grounder left of the second base bag did.

Winn made a diving stop of Hoerner’s grounder and got a piece of his glove on it but could not stop it from reaching center field for a single that scored Alex Bregman and Carson Kelly.

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