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Facing the former Cardinal on Tuesday at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals were kept scoreless through five innings as his five-pitch repertoire that most often featured his curveball and sinker kept them to three hits and led to four strikeouts. The fourth and final strikeout against Alcantara in the Cardinals’ 5-0 loss was of Alec Burleson in the fifth inning. It left the bases loaded and punctuated the righty’s outing.

Along with their opportunity to hit with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, the Cardinals (55-54) threatened to score in the third when base runners reached first and third base with two outs against the former National League Cy Young award winner. The right-hander escaped the first jam he faced with an inning-ending out flyout against Burleson, who came into Tuesday with a .289 batting average on the season and a .266 batting average in 79 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Hit for 16 runs in his first two starts coming out of the All-Star break, Cardinals starter Sonny Gray allowed three runs over five innings against Miami. Gray surrendered a two-run homer to Graham Pauley with two outs in the second inning and allowed a third run to score in the fifth inning on a single by Otto Lopez. The right-hander needed 91 pitches to get through five innings as he surrendered eight hits and one walk while striking out five batters.

Gray was relieved by Steven Matz (one inning), Matt Svanson (two innings), John King (2/3 of an inning) and Kyle Leahy (1/3 of an inning).

Matz, who is a candidate to be dealt ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, allowed two runs and three hits in his lone inning of work.

King left with an apparent injury before he could get through the final batter he faced. King signaled to the Cardinals dugout after delivering a pitch to Augustin Ramirez as he appeared to aggravate the left side of his upper body. He was visited on the mound by Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, pitching coach Dusty Blake and a team trainer and exited moments after.

Leaving runners on

In both instances where the Cardinals put multiple runners on base against Alcantara, one-out walks from Victor Scott II helped et the stage for a chance to break open the scoring. In both instances, the scoring threat ended with at-bats by Burleson.

Scott drew a walk with one out in the third inning and stole second base to give the Cardinals their first runner in scoring position of the night. A walk later than inning from Ivan Herrera put base runners on first and second base for Burleson.

Burleson worked a 2-1 count on pitches Alcantara placed on the outer half of the plate. On the fifth pitch he saw from the righty, Burleson hit a fly ball toward the right-center field gap that center fielder Javier Sanoja caught with a sliding grab.

When a single by Pedro Pages, a second walk by Scott, and Ivan Herrera’s hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning for Burleson, the left-handed hitter kept his at-bat going by laying off a 1-2 sinker in the dirt. He whiffed at the very next pitch, a sinker thrown low and away, to strike out him out with the bases loaded.

Two firsts hurt Gray in the second

Back-to-back hits Gray surrendered that marked firsts for Marlins hitters sunk the Cardinals in a two-run hole by the end of the second inning.

The first of the two hits marked a career first.

Called up from Class AAA Jacksonville on Tuesday, first baseman Troy Johnston fell into a 1-2 count in his first major league plate appearance and fouled off a sweeper thrown at his knees to earn a fifth pitch. Johnston, a 28-year-old rookie, pulled a sweeper that floated over the middle of the plate to right field for his first-career hit.

Two at-bats later, Pauley provided the game’s first runs with his first homer of the season and third of his career. The 24-year-old third baseman lifted an 0-1 curveball from Gray over the wall in right field to plate two runs.

The homer to Pauley was Gray’s fifth allowed in three starts since the All-Star break.

Running into outs

A pair of base running mistakes ran the cost the Cardinals outs during the second and sixth innings.

When a single in the second inning from Jordan Walker gave the Cardinals their first hit of the night, Walker ran into an out after he attempted to steal second base and could not retreat to first base in time on a pop up to first base from Thomas Saggese.

When the Cardinals trailed by three runs in the sixth inning, Willson Contreras lined a single to left field and attempted to stretch his hit into a double by testing Kyle Stowers’ throwing arm. Contreras could not beat Stowers’ throw as he was tagged out with ease at second bases.