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The Cardinals misplaced a five-run lead in the torrent of Kansas City’s eight-run cloudburst against starter Andre Pallante and a rapid-response group of relievers. What could have been another in a series of comeback wins for the Cardinals and their persistent offense had the script flipped at home in a stumbling 10-7 loss to the visiting Royals on Tuesday night.

It took Kansas City nine batters to dismantle the Cardinals’ five-run lead in the fifth inning and send them to their third loss in four games. The Cardinals managed five hits in each of the three games against the Rangers and four runs total. They had more runs than that in a single inning Tuesday, and they entered the ninth with 11 hits.

That wasn’t enough to outrun their own pitching.

From the fifth through the sixth inning, the Royals scored eight runs on nine hits. Bobby Witt Jr. had a two-run single in the fifth inning to spur the six-run innings, and he finished the game with a home run and four RBIs.

The Royals tenderized Pallante’s ERA – nudging it up to 4.91 – but also found success against two of the Cardinals’ most reliable reliever. That is where the leaks are starting to widen. Setup man Kyle Leahy allowed a run and two hits to give him six runs allowed and 11 hits in his past five innings. Steven Matz allowed two runs and an inherited runner to score in his 1 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals did not score after the third and finished 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position. The last of those at-bats came with the tying run at home in the ninth inning.

How Pallante, game came undone

Five pitches into his start, Pallante was behind.

Forty-nine pitches into the start and Pallante was rolling.

Twenty-one pitches later his line was a bloated mess, the Cardinals’ lead swamped.

When Pallante had a hold on the game, he breezed through innings, and when he lost that grip it came apart even faster. The Royals’ No. 2 hitter Witt tagged Pallante’s 96-mph fastball in the first inning for a two-run homer on the fifth pitch of the game. Pallante retired the next three batters to finish the inning – and he blitzed to retire 13 consecutive. When he struck out Witt in the third inning on a 97.5-mph fastball, Pallante had nine outs on his past 34 pitches.

He retired the side in order on 10 pitches in the fourth.

Things went sideways from there.

The Cardinals scored seven runs during Pallante’s start and five in the third inning to give the right-hander a five-run lead and a tailwind as he gathered momentum.

Within the span of five batters it all got away from him as he was permitted to face Witt for a third time. It did not go well.

So much of the talk heading into the series for the Royals was how their outfield offense was a leading culprit for their overall offensive issues. Kansas City’s outfield had produced the fewest homers in the majors (seven) and their combined .331 slugging percentage was the second-lowest in the majors for any group of outfielders. They were, according to FanGraphs, an active drag on the team, worth minus-1.0 Wins Above Replacement. This was as clear in the lineup as it was in the stats. The Royals’ three starting outfielders hit Nos. 7, 8, and 9.

In the fifth, they got hits off Pallante in the same order.

Left fielder Nick Loftin hit the eight homer by a KC outfielder this season. Right fielder Drew Waters and center fielder Kyle Isbel followed with singles. That spun the lineup back around to the top of it just in time for Jonathan Indian to loop a single and load the bases for Witt. Pallante got a visit on the mound, but not a change. That choice could be rooted in how he pitched the previous innings or the Cardinals' availability of relievers over the coming fortnight.

He kept the ball long enough to tumble into a full count against Witt and then leave a pitch up enough for the Witt to single to center on Pallante’s 71st and final pitch.

In the span of 21 pitches, Pallante allowed five hits and three runs.

The two batters he left on base for Steven Matz to deal with both scored to tie the game, 7-7, when Vinnie Pasquantino doubled with two outs. Pallante went from the verge of a quality start with two runs on two hits through four innings to allow seven runs on seven hits through 4 1/3 innings.

Cards bash way to big (but fleeting) lead

An inning after Nolan Gorman tied the game with his first home run since March 30, the Cardinals were able to get a rally back to him as they pounced on the new game he created.

Gorman had gone about 105 plate appearances since his previous and only home run of the season when he drilled a pitch 105.7 mph for a two-run, game-tying homer.

With the balanced score and Pallante finding his footing, the Cardinals opened the third with their leadoff hitter. What sparked the inning was the first of shortstop Masyn Winn’s hits. A walk followed, and then the blasts began. Willson Contreras ripped a double down the third-base line and into the stands to break a 2-2 tie. Nolan Arenado skipped into an infield single that brought home another run, and an error on the same play forced home a second run.

Alec Burleson followed with the Cardinals’ second two-run homer in as many innings.

The tidy 2-2 ballgame that Royals’ starter Michael Lorenzen took into the bottom of the third inning was obliterated by the time Gorman was on deck. Lorenzen did not get to face the left-handed batter who started the scoring an inning earlier with a homer, and lefty reliever Daniel Lynch IV did not retire him. Gorman walked for the second of his three times on base through seventh inning.

The five-run third gave the Cardinals more runs in a single inning Tuesday than they scored during their entire weekend in Texas.

It was not enough.

Welcome to the bigs; watch the gloves

The player who brought a swarm of Kansas City’s media and some KC fans to Busch Stadium on Tuesday did not take long to learn about the defense that awaits him at the highest level.

Jac Caglianone, the sixth overall pick 11 months ago out of the University of Florida, made his major-league debut with the Royals and was promoted to bring some punch the lineup. They had at least eight runs on the board Tuesday before he got involved, but it was not for lack of effort or exit velocity. He just ran into two of the finest fielders in the world.

In his first big-league at-bat, Caglianone tagged a ball to deep center field – right toward the Bank of America ad almost 400 feet away from home – and there to meet it in stride was Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II. The hit had an expected batting average of .330, and there are some parks where the liner would pinball off the wall before the fielder could. But at Busch with its facets and Scott on patrol, it was just a leadoff out.

Caglianone led off against Pallante in the right-hander’s messy fifth inning and skipped a grounder toward left against the shift.

Arenado, who would twice defy the prospect with his range, gloved the grounder casually and then delivered a throw to first base that was like a timing route for Willson Contreras. The throw arrived almost as Contreras did – and well before Caglianone did.

The inning crumbled on the Cardinals from there.