Just when it looked as though the St. Louis Cardinals were finally going to wake up from their nightmare, their spirits got crushed yet again on Wednesday when they blew a lead and lost to the San Francisco Giants at home, 8-5. With that loss, the Cardinals were swept at Busch Stadium by the Giants and saw their losing skid get extended to five games.

Following the Cards' latest defeat, St. Louis manager Oli Marmol still tried to convey a positive outlook for his team.

“At some point, you just have to do something about it. If you keep getting punched in the face, punch back,” Marmol said during the postgame press conference.

The Cardinals had a four-run lead entering the seventh inning of the series finale against San Francisco, but St. Louis' crumbled late, with Marmol even going for Steven Matz for help. Matz, however, would allow two earned runs on three hits in the 10th inning, resulting in another Cardinals loss. Mike Yastrzemski came through in the clutch for the Giants, as he connected on a game-tying, two-run home run in the ninth inning to extend the contest.

With the loss, the Cardinals are now just 27-42 — the worst record in the National League Central division. At the moment, they are nine games behind division leaders Pittsburgh Pirates and 3.5 games back of the second-worst team in the group, the Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals will look to shake off their struggles when they start a new series this coming Friday on the road against the New York Mets.