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Another off night from Pablo Lopez, silent bats lead to Marlins shutout loss vs Cardinals

Pablo Lopez stepped on the mound at Busch Stadium coming off his best start of the calendar month, a seven-inning gem the pitcher hoped would be a building block to returning to his dominant early-season form.

Instead, his outing on Monday mirrored those of the first three outings in June.

Lopez gave up a pair of home runs — both with two outs — and got no run support to pave the way for Miami’s 9-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals to begin a three-game series. The nine-run defeat ties for the Marlins’ most lopsided loss of the season, with the other being a 15-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants on June 3.

The Marlins fall to 33-39 and have now been shut out four times this season, with two of those coming against the Cardinals (42-34).

Overall, Lopez gave up five runs on six hits and a walk over five innings while striking out five.

His ERA in five June starts: 5.34 (17 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings). He gave up at least four earned runs in three of those five outings. His season ERA, as a result, jumped from 1.83 at the end of May to 2.98 at the end of Monday.

Paul Goldschmidt, who went 4 for 4 and was a triple shy of the cycle, opened scoring against Lopez with a two-out home run in the first inning, sending an 86.9 mph cutter that barely clipped the top of the zone a projected 402 feet to left field.

Three innings later, Juan Yepez hit a changeup that leaked over the heart of the plate for a three-run home run. It was the first of two home runs from Yepez, who also hit a two-run shot off Richard Bleier in the sixth.

Goldschmidt added an RBI double off Lopez in the fifth, and the Cardinals scored two more runs in the eighth against Tommy Nance.

Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright held the Marlins scoreless over seven innings despite giving up seven hits and a walk. He struck out nine batters and held Miami without a hit with runners in scoring position.

Garrett Cooper had three of the Marlins’ eight hits.