ST. LOUIS -- What was once a two-game lead in the National League Wild Card race for St. Louis was erased, and as of Saturday's 17-4 loss at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals are now the ones trying to chip away at the Dodgers' lead.
A series that contained high hopes of the Cardinals cushioning a hard-earned playoff spot after a remarkable August mutated into a need for salvation in the fourth game Sunday. The Cardinals were competitive the two games prior with a high-scoring Thursday and a mound duel on Friday. Saturday, they just got leveled.
Patrick Wisdom, who replaced Matt Carpenter at first for the afternoon, delivered a grand slam that appeared to bring the Cardinals back to life, but Yasiel Puig's third home run of the day (fifth of the series) buried the Cardinals' chances of exiting the series with a Wild Card lead.