The Pirates are a season-worst four games under .500 after getting out of the gate at 11-7. While it is still early, the lack of offense seems ready to doom the Pirates to a 17th consecutive losing season, which would break the major league record they currently share with the 1933-48 Phillies.

The Pirates are hitting just .188 in that their 10-game lull with three home runs and an average of 3.1 runs a game.

"Teams go through it," manager John Russell said of his team's offensive malaise. "We're not the only team that struggles to score runs. Everybody does it. You go through a stretch. Unfortunately, with the Pirates, it gets magnified more because of all the streaks they talk about and stuff like that. These guys have been through it before. We're struggling, but we'll break out sooner or later."

CARDINALS 5, PIRATES 2: Ross Ohlendorf's three-start winning streak ended as he allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings with one walk and five strikeouts. The Pirates were limited to just four hits, two by catcher Robinzon Diaz, who hit his first career home run.