The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball history, but the Cards are off to their worst start in 50 years.
The Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Angels 11-7 on Thursday, dropping to 10-22 on the season.
The start to the season is the worst since 1973, when St. Louis began the year 8-23, according to The Associated Press.
It was the sixth consecutive loss and the ninth in 10 games for the Cardinals, who were swept by the Angels.
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"They’re a good team over there," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "I know their record isn’t indicative of the talent they have, but they’re I know they’re coming, and I never really felt comfortable until the last out, I never do. But resilient, we played great."
Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty allowed a career-high 10 runs in just 2 ⅓ innings, dropping to 2-4 with an ERA of 6.29.
"If I was average, or put together an average start, we’d win this game, because guys came out and swung it and gave me two runs," Flaherty said after the game, according to MLB.com. "Then, I can't go put up a shutdown [inning] after we get two runs there, and I give up the home run.
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"Things just continue to unravel. We’ve got to do a better job as a staff, in general, and I’ve got to do a better job. I just take it [to mean] it wasn't good enough."
St. Louis owns the worst record in the National League as the team welcomes the Detroit Tigers to Busch Stadium on Friday for a three-game series.
"Of course, everybody’s [expletive] frustrated," Flaherty said. "It is what it is, but we’re way better than this. That’s the thing – we know we’re better than this, and we’re going to climb out of this. At some point, we’re going to figure it out. I was hoping it would be today, and I was hoping to put together a good start, but I didn’t do it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
