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MILWAUKEE — The only guarantees for a leadoff hitter is that they’ll bat with the bases empty once and they’ll at least be tied on the team for the most plate appearances in a game, every time. Beyond that it must just seem like when things are going poorly for a leadoff hitter the game is guaranteed to find them to make it worse.

From the at-bat that started the game Friday night to the one that finished it with the potential tying run at second — and the strikeouts in between — Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar could not escape what’s become one of the most difficult stretches of his career. Opportunities to change the game and possibly halt the Cardinals’ losing streak came in the fifth, the seventh, and back around again in the ninth.

Each time the leadoff hitter, renowned for his feel for the strike zone, struck out.

“You’re at the top of the lineup and you want to do everything you can to help the team,” Nootbaar said late Friday after the Cardinals’ sixth consecutive loss. “That’s the main thing is just feeling that you’re letting the guys down being that spot. You try to do more and it really doesn’t help. Once I get out of this, I’ll look back and say I probably shouldn’t have pressed and try to do that. It’s human nature.

“Right now, it’s you want to swing your way out of it.”

And that’s partially why the misses keep mounting.

In the Cardinals’ 3-2 loss to Milwaukee on Friday at American Family Field, Nootbaar finished 0 for 5 and struck out four times. He had never struck out more than three times in his career before this past week, and he has two four-strikeout games. Nootbaar had two three-strikeout games all of 2024. He has three in the past six days as his June average dipped to .114.

Milwaukee starting left-handed Jose Quintana on Saturday gives the Cardinals a natural spot to give Nootbaar a break from leadoff and give leadoff a different look, even if it’s only for that day. Nootbaar could possibly get a day off entirely from the lineup. Manager Oliver Marmol agreed when asked about getting a breather for Nootbaar after the outfielder’s fifth consecutive game without a hit.

The manager has expressed confidence in Nootbaar thriving at leadoff.

“He’s going to learn a lot from this and it will serve him well as far as trying to swing your way out of what he’s feeling right now and the difference between that and sticking to what makes you good,” Marmol said. “At times, you just want to do more. And each punch out, each oh-for, you kind of double-down on wanting to do more. He’s learning from it.”

While starters Erick Fedde and Freddy Peralta began Friday’s game by retiring the first nine batters they each faced and taken their tandem perfect run into the fourth inning, the game ultimately hinged on production from the top of the lineup. The Brewers got it with two runs from leadoff hitter Sal Frelick and two dexterous slides by No. 2 hitter Jackson Chourio in the decisive sixth inning. Frelick snapped Fedde’s perfect start with a line drive off the right-hander’s left forearm. Fedde remained in the game and was there when Frelick singled to lead off the sixth and stole second.

Chourio followed with a single to set up a sacrifice fly and groundout that broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Brewers’ the lead the Cardinals challenged but never overtook.

Meanwhile, the top of the inning, the top of the Cardinals’ lineup struggled. Going into the ninth inning, the first four spots in the Cardinals’ lineup combined to go 1 for 13. No. 3 hitter Ivan Herrera ended Peralta’s perfect run with a two-out single in the fourth inning. Cleanup hitter Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch and walked to reach base twice. Nootbaar and Winn, the Cardinals’ Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, combined to go 0 for 9.

The Cardinals were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and they struck out four times. Two of those belonged to Nootbaar.

“I’ve got to face it,” Nootbaar said at his locker late Friday night. “Yeah, going through a tough stretch right now. Obviously, something is off. Trying to identify it. It is uncommon for me to be struggling in this fashion. Trying to figure it out. I’ve had some long nights the past week, trying to do everything we can to fix it.”

What’s uncharacteristic about the slump for Nootbaar is the strikeouts. In 2024, the Cardinals’ outfielder was top 2% in walk rate and he was the best in chase rate. Blend those two skills with being top 9% in hard-hit rate and top 12% in average exit velocity, and Nootbaar had a reputation for being patient at the plate with his swings and punishing when he did swing. That’s almost flipped on him in the past week.

During the Cardinals’ losing streak he’s 0 for 23 with 13 strikeouts.

He said Friday that he hasn’t felt right with his swing since the Cardinals faced the Los Angeles Angels — and that was the second series of this season.

The game Friday offered no compassion.

After Peralta sped through the Cardinals’ lineup the first time he saw it, Nootbaar led off the fourth inning and struck out. In the fifth, back-to-back doubles by Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado tied the game, 1-1. Arenado remained at second for the next two batters, and a two-out walk to Michael Siani brought the inning back around to Nootbaar. Peralta caught him looking at a changeup to end the inning. In the seventh, a one-out single put a teammate on base for Nootbaar again, and he got called out on a third strike.

Asked if he felt in between — antsy on off speed, hesitant on heat — Nootbaar felt that was a fair description with a dash of eagerness to just force hits to happen.

“I think that’s what makes us good is we’re stubborn,” Nootbaar said. “And, yeah, caught in between is a good term for me right now.”

In between can describe both the tempo and approach of a swing.

It can also describe a vice.

He was back in it in the ninth. Victor Scott II came off the bench and into a rally against Brewers’ closer Trevor Megill that got the tying run into scoring position. Scott had an RBI single with two outs and stole second base to make that possible. It also turned over the Cardinals’ lineup to guarantee Nootbaar would get a chance to erasing whatever happened in his previous four at-bats with what was possible in this fifth one. The game he started would either continue with him — or end.

Megill threw him three consecutive knuckle curveballs.

Nootbaar took one for a strike.

Nootbaar fouled off one for a second strike.

He swung at one in the dirt to finish the game.

“He’s trying everything, and it’s not going his way,” Marmol said. “The swing and miss is more than he would like, more than we would like. This guy — he feels like it’s on him. That’s what makes him good. He cares. We have to come alongside of him and help him get out of this.”

Brewers 3, Cardinals 2

ӣ����Ƶ AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Nootbaar lf 5 0 0 0 0 4 .226

Winn ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .261

Herrera dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 .306

Wills.Contreras 1b 2 0 0 0 1 0 .255

Burleson rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .296

Arenado 3b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .243

Gorman 2b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .217

Pagés c 4 0 1 0 0 3 .214

Siani cf 1 0 0 0 1 1 .235

Pozo ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .286

Scott cf 1 0 1 1 0 0 .245

Totals 34 2 7 2 2 11

Milwaukee AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Frelick rf 4 2 2 0 0 1 .296

Chourio cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .257

Willi.Contreras c 3 0 1 2 0 0 .239

Yelich dh 2 0 0 1 1 0 .236

Hoskins 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .249

Collins lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .235

Turang 2b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .262

Durbin 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .209

Ortiz ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .187

Totals 28 3 5 3 1 8

ӣ����Ƶ 000 010 001 — 2 7 0

Milwaukee 000 102 00x — 3 5 0

LOB: ӣ����Ƶ 8, Milwaukee 3. 2B: Burleson (9), Arenado (11), Gorman (7), Willi.Contreras (9). RBIs: Arenado (36), Scott (20), Willi.Contreras 2 (30), Yelich (42). SB: Frelick (13), Scott (19). CS: Yelich (3). SF: Willi.Contreras.

ӣ����Ƶ IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Fedde, L, 3-6 51/3 4 3 3 1 5 3.65

Matz 12/3 1 0 0 0 2 2.31

O’Brien 1 0 0 0 0 1 3.86

Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Peralta, W, 6-4 6 4 1 1 1 6 2.60

Koenig 1 1 0 0 0 2 3.26

Uribe 1 0 0 0 1 1 1.35

Megill, S, 14-16 1 2 1 1 0 2 3.09

Inherited runners-scored: Matz 1-1. HBP: Peralta (Wills.Contreras). WP: Uribe. T: 2:37. Att.: 30,026.