ST. LOUIS — When the Cardinals slipped beneath the winning waterline for the first time this season it wasn’t a slow sink or even a sudden cannonball, but an absolute dunk by their archrival.

The Cubs drubbed the Cardinals with seven runs before the Cardinals could catch their breath on the way to a 10-2 rout Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. The ragged play and lopsided losses are starting to mount, and this loss dropped the Cardinals to 53-54 — a losing record for the first time all season. They reach that point in the standings as a fourth-place club within a week of the trade deadline, as the front office considers dealing from the present roster to bolster their future plans and continue the rebuild they’ve planned all along.

With offense eroding beneath their feet, the Cardinals’ slip accelerated coming out of the All-Star break and they’ve lost 10 of their past 13 games.

They are 6-15 since leaving Wrigley Field after July Fourth weekend.

Seven of those 15 losses have been to the Cubs and Brewers.

The Cubs seized on starter Michael McGreevy for a 7-0 lead before he could get a sixth out. The Cubs had seven runs and eight hits from 15 batters before the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter got his first at-bat of the game. The remainder of the game was survival for a bullpen that the Cardinals went out of the way to protect Monday and needed a refresher shortly before gametime Tuesday.

The Cardinals added their second run of the game in the ninth to shrink the deficit.

McGreevy’s start: bruising and short

There was a moment in the game, as the Cardinals began the bottom of the second inning looking up from a seven-run deficit, when Cubs starter Colin Rea had thrown fewer pitches than McGreevy had faced batters.

Rea (8-7) wouldn’t throw his 15th pitch until he already had four outs.

McGreevy (4-9) wouldn’t face a 16th batter.

He was bounced from the game before it got that far.

Dinged for two doubles and two runs in the first inning, McGreevy allowed five runs on five hits in the second inning, and he did not get a chance to finish that inning. Gordon Graceffo entered and only because he stranded both of the runners that he inherited was McGreevy’s line saved from a larger welt.

McGreevy’s start began with a strikeout against Cubs leadoff hitter and All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong. That was the high point. What followed was a single by Seiya Suzuki and then, two batters later, a rulebook double from Alex Bregman. Bregman’s ball hopping over the wall for his third double in two days saved the Cardinals from giving up a run. Famed Cubs nuisance Ian Happ then roped a line drive to right field that clipped the tip of Jordan Walker’s outstretched glove before hitting the wall. Happ’s double scored both Suzuki and Bregman for a 2-0.

The extra-base hit from Happ came on the 11th pitch of the at-bat.

It took McGreevy 27 pitches to navigate the first inning, and Happ saw the majority of them. Working with an uptick in velocity, McGreevy finished the inning the way it began — without a strikeout — but the tumble had already started.

In the second inning, the Cubs would send 10 batters to the plate – nine of them against McGreevy. Suzuki would add an RBI double to his first-inning single, and Bregman would add a single to his first-inning double. Combined they would have four hits and score four runs before the Cardinals’ No. 4 batter even took his first at-bat. Crow-Armstrong joined the parade of production with a ball tattooed to one of the deepest points of center fielder. Nathan Church inched up against the wall to make the catch and keep Crow-Armstrong to a sacrifice fly.

McGreevy mixed in two walks — one to No. 8 hitter Carson Kelly, the former Cardinals prospect, and the other to Happ. Kelly was the only one who scored.

Happ was marooned by Graceffo.

The seven runs allowed were a season-high for McGreevy, and the eight hits were the most allowed by the right-hander in a month. For the first time this season, McGreevy failed to complete the fourth inning. The brevity of McGreevy’s start against the Cubs and the abundance of runs raised his ERA from 3.07 at the start of the day to 3.57 after he’d thrown his 63rd and final pitch.

Burleson’s fruitless liner, fruitful walk

The image of him walking back to the dugout after flying out to center field made Alec Burleson’s frustration clear. The Cardinals were already down by two runs and Rea had two outs in the first inning when Burleson smoked a pitch to deep center field.

The ball left Burleson’s bat at 102.1 mph and it traveled an estimated 401 feet.

Yet, there, right beside the 400-foot mark in center field was the glove of Crow-Armstrong to catch it for the final out of the first inning. Burleson shared his frustration to the lip-reading crowd at home. He had stung the pitch, sent it hurtling more than 400 feet, and, according to Statcast produced the kind of swing that results in a hit 69% of the time. That same data, however, suggests that Busch’ pitcher-friendly dimensions did not keep the ball from leaving the park. Statcast calculated that the ball would not have been a home run in any of the 30 major league ballparks.

The fruitless swing followed by a more fruitful walk.

With the Cardinals already trailing by a touchdown, Burleson opened the fourth inning with a leadoff walk that did give the Cardinals their first chance to chomp into the Cubs’ lead. His walk was followed by one-out singles from Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn to load the bases. Nootbaar’s single was an infield bouncer that he outran to first.

The net result of the opportunity was Church’s sacrifice fly to produce the Cardinals’ first run. Burleson scored it. And that’s where the rally ended.

Before that run, the Cardinals had been outscored 49 to 25 since taking a 7-0 lead in the desert against Arizona on July 19. They would lose that game after allowing eight unmatched runs to the Diamondbacks, and the spiral toward a losing record was underway.

Strzelecki debuts

Shortly before first pitch Tuesday, the Cardinals announced a transaction that was apparently about getting a fresh arm immediately into the bullpen.

Questions before the game about Hunter Dobbins’ next appearance after a strong five innings of relief Monday were deflected before the game. Manager Oli Marmol said he had to have two more conversations internally before answering any questions from baseball writers about that decision. Within an hour of first pitch, a transaction gave an answer.

The Cardinals optioned Dobbins to Class AAA Memphis to clear a spot on the active roster for an available reliever, newly signed right-hander Peter Strzelecki. (Dobbins can return to the team without a minimum stay in the minors if there is an injury or a trade.)

Strzelecki was added to the 40-player roster’s open spot.

Part of the consideration appeared to be Riley O’Brien’s availability. Due to an undisclosed ailment, the Cardinals’ closer was unavailable Sunday and was questionable going into Tuesday. The Cardinals were waiting to see how he felt after a pre-game workout and throwing before determining his availability. A short time later, Strzelecki had been added to the bullpen.

And within a few innings, he was needed.

Signed in the past week to a minor league deal, Strzelecki pitched the seventh and eighth innings of Tuesday’s loss. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out one while saving some mileage from going on another reliever. The Cardinals had orchestrated Dobbins’ use in relief Monday split the game between starters and give the bullpen an entire day off that it did not get coming out of the All-Star break.

Strzelecki and Justin Bruihl shouldered four innings to mean others did not and could be available to hold a lead Wednesday night.

If the Cardinals get one.

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