St. Louis Cardinals' Pitching Staff Hasn't Been This Bad in Last 20 Years of Team History

The Cardinals offense has been very solid in the early going this season, but the pitching is having a hard time holding up its end of the bargain.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (52) delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park on April 7. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals fell to 4-6 on Monday by dropping an 8-4 contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

The Pirates improved to 4-7.

The pitching struggled, once again, for St. Louis, as Matthew Liberatore took the loss. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out seven. Chris Roycroft surrendered three earned runs in just 0.2 innings of relief.

While the St. Louis offense has generally been solid in the early going, the pitching has been historically tough, as evidenced by @StatsCentre on social media:

Most runs allowed as a team through the first 10 games of a season in #Cardinals franchise history (1882-present):
95 in 1892
84 in 1902
81 in 1954
78 in 1895
77 in 1886
73 in 1924
72 in 1901
69 in 2025 (Thanks to surrendering 8 more in Monday's defeat to the Pirates)
69 in 2004

Most runs allowed as a team through the first 10 games of a season in #Cardinals franchise history (1882-present):
95 in 1892
84 in 1902
81 in 1954
78 in 1895
77 in 1886
73 in 1924
72 in 1901
69 in 2025 (Thanks to surrendering 8 more in Monday's defeat to the Pirates)
69 in 2004

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) April 8, 2025

If you're scoring at home, the Cardinals haven't allowed this many runs through 10 runs in more than 20 years. After letting Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson go in the offseason, perhaps this is what the Cardinals baragined for.

The two teams will play again on Tuesday afternoon with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. ET. Veteran right-hander Sonny Gray will take the ball for the Cardinals. Even he has struggled, going 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA. Superstar ace Paul Skenes will be on the other side for Pittsburgh. Through two starts, he's 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA.

He's already amassed 13 strikeouts on the season.

The two teams will finish out their series on Wednesday.

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