After battling back to a .500 record by taking two of three from the Giants over the weekend, the Cardinals had resurfaced again to position themselves within 4.5 games of a wild card spot.
Then came the backslide on Monday night in Seattle as the Redbirds squandered an early 2-0 lead to fall 4-2 to the surging Mariners.
That type of result has become a predictable follow-up to these moves up the standings for St. Louis, but it's also simply a product of where the Cardinals are in this process.
The Cardinals aren't yet where they want to be, but to get where they're going, they have to give the developing core a chance to get them there.
The bottom of the sixth inning of Monday's loss to the Mariners is the latest example.
Though Miles Mikolas was cooking up one of his most effective road starts of the year, manager Oliver Marmol understands that when things break down for Mikolas, they have a tendency to do so quickly. So after a leadoff walk and a base hit to start the sixth inning, Marmol didn't waste any time turning to his bullpen in hopes of preserving the lead.
Gordon Graceffo, though, didn't have it that night. Graceffo was careful with the Big Dumper, Cal Raleigh, walking him to load the bases for Julio Rodriguez. A J-Rod single and a gapper by Josh Naylor put the M's in front, for good.
The Cardinals' narrow lead was erased, and they'd eventually lose the game. It stings, especially since there was a point in the proceedings where it seemed like things were setting up nicely for St. Louis.
On our STL Sports Central postgame show that followed the game Monday night, we had several comments in the live chat wondering about the choice to go with Graceffo out of the bullpen for that spot in the sixth.
Now, from my basement in O'Fallon, I didn't know the intricacies of Marmol's bullpen availability as well as reporters on the scene. But knowing Kyle Leahy had pitched on Saturday, and knowing his multi-inning appearances lately have generally meant two days off in between, my assumption was that he was an arm from which Marmol wanted to stay away on Monday night.
The other aspect of the conversation? The fact that if you could brew up these developmental opportunities in a lab, you'd probably concoct a spot for Graceffo just like the one he faced on Monday, just to find out what he'd do with it.
Going Graceffo with the game on the line against the big boppers of the Seattle lineup meant a genuine look at how he might handle a pressurized situation.
If he sails through it? Well, you learn something from it.
When it plays out, and he doesn't sail through it? Well, you hope he learns something from it.
Look, I understand wanting to win every game. But it's not as though Marmol was hoarding all the proven leverage relievers and sending Graceffo instead. There's an earnest case to be made that, short of Leahy's availability, which we already tacitly ruled out, Graceffo was the ideal reliever for that opportunity.
That it didn't go the Cardinals' way is another sign of the inevitable: a retooling year that probably ends up like a magnet toward a .500 record. And hey, accruing more than three hits across nine innings could have been another explanation for the loss.
But the hope for the Cardinals when it comes to moments and situations like Monday is to continue growing through them.