Cardinals offense is trending in wrong direction after key series

On Saturday night, the St. Louis Cardinals failed to sweep a two-game series with their Missouri-state rivals, the Kansas City Royals. They jumped out to a 2-0, but ultimately faltered and fell 8-3 in the series finale.

While the bullpen was the main culprit for St. Louis on Saturday, it wasn't the only reason they lost the game. Cardinals insider Bernie Miklasz pointed out that there were other issues plaguing the team.

"After tonight's loss in KC the Cardinals are 11 for 79 (.139) with runners in scoring position for the month of August," Miklasz tweeted. "Bullpen was bad tonight but it wasn't the only reason they lost the game."

While many have focused on the Cardinals pitching struggles over the past few years, the struggles of their offense have essentially been overlooked.

The team is near the bottom of Major League Baseball in runs scored. They brought in Tommy Pham at the trade deadline to help balance out a left-handed heavy lineup and add an extra bat to bolster the offense.

And while Pham has performed well, the rest of the lineup appears to have gone cold, and if the Cardinals are going to pull themselves out of their funk, they are going to need to get their bats going, particularly with runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals fell to 60-58 on the season with Saturday's loss, dropping to two games out in the National League Wild Card race and eight games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.

More MLB: Cardinals hit low point with tough loss to Royals in key series