ARLINGTON, Texas — Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright landed on the word that best summarized the club’s latest brow-furling head-scratching one-run loss: Compounding.
It’s not that any single miscue led to the outcome the Cardinals desperately hoped to avoid. It’s the connective tissue of mistakes, misplays and lapses that combined to yield a series-opening 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on Monday night.
The walk-off loss ostensibly came at relief pitcher Genesis Cabrera’s expense, but the path that led to the final hit and the game-winning had already been littered with a bevy of flubs that set the stage.