ST. LOUIS _ As Paul DeJong circled the bases and Busch Stadium rocked, Vince Velasquez went for a stroll.
First, he stepped off the mound and took a few strides toward the third-base dugout. Then, the Phillies starter made a slight turn and walked across the grass in front of home plate. Umpire Laz Diaz flipped him a new ball, and Velasquez snatched it with his bare hand, knowing that he was about to hand it right over to manager Gabe Kapler anyway.
It was the fifth inning here Monday night, and if Anchorman Ron Burgundy had been narrating the highlights, he would have said, "That escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast." Velasquez went from not allowing a hit through 14 batters to giving up a two-run home run to Yadier Molina in the fourth inning and three consecutive hits, including homers to Matt Carpenter and DeJong, to open the fifth.
Add it up and Velasquez allowed five runs in what turned out to be a series-opening 6-0 Phillies loss to the Cardinals, who had dropped their previous four games by a combined margin of 25-11.
The Phillies, fresh off a 6-3 homestand, generated only three singles against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. Between Jean Segura's one-out base hit in the first inning and Cesar Hernandez's leadoff single in the sixth, they went 0-for-13 and didn't have a baserunner. It was the best outing of the season so far for Mikolas, who finished sixth in the Cy Young Award voting last year but entered with a 4.73 ERA in seven starts.
And it was the second rough start in a row for Velasquez. After failing to complete the fourth inning last Tuesday night against the Tigers, he didn't record an out in the fifth against the Cardinals. He gave up more than three runs for the first time in seven starts and allowed three homers in a game for the first time since Aug. 16, 2016, against the Dodgers.
For the second consecutive start, Velasquez was unable to put hitters away. The Tigers fouled off a total of 25 pitches last week. The Cardinals fouled off 21. Molina got a piece of four pitches before his home run; DeJong fouled off two before his.
"I think when a pitcher delivers a pitch that he thinks he might get a swing and miss on and it turns into a foul ball and that happens three or four or five times, it can take a toll on people," Kapler said before the game. "Vince has experienced that before in his career. He experienced it in his last outing, and I think his ability to not have so many deep counts with so many foul balls, which in some ways he's not in control of, it makes a difference between him having a great outing or him having a subpar outing."
Velasquez issued three walks in the first three innings but avoided trouble. He walked Jose Martinez with one out in the fourth, then had a seven-pitch dual with Molina. Velasquez threw a little of everything, but Molina fouled off a slider, two fastballs and a curveball before launching a 95 mph heater into the seats in left-center field to open a 2-0 Cardinals lead.
The Phillies were flirting with trouble by bringing Velasquez back for the fifth inning. The top of the Cardinals' order was due up to bat, and opposing hitters were 7-for-15 with two homers and a 1.529 on-base plus slugging percentage this season in their third plate appearance of a game against Velasquez.
But the Phillies also had a short-handed bullpen, with neither Pat Neshek nor Adam Morgan available to pitch. So, Kapler stuck with Velasquez, who fell behind Carpenter and gave up a leadoff homer on a fastball in a 3-1 count. After Paul Goldschmidt hit a first-pitch single to center field, DeJong took two strikes, fouled off two fastballs and hit a 96 mph heater out to right field.
