ST. LOUIS — A Cardinals offense scuffling of late and an opposing pitcher who’d given out nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits through his first three starts wasn’t a stellar recipe for a breakout day at the plate. Yet the Cardinals scratched and clawed their way into extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

However, Cardinals closer Ryan Helsey gave up a single to Milwaukee Brewers star catcher William Contreras, the younger brother of Cardinals starting catcher Willson Contreras, and that drove in the automatic runner to provide the difference in extra innings.

The struggling Cardinals offense failed to match the run in the bottom of the 10th in a 2-1 loss to the Brewers in front of an announced crowd of 40,147 in the series opener at Busch Stadium on Friday night.

The Cardinals got the tying run to third base with two outs in the 10th inning, but the Brewers intentionally walked Willson Contreras. Nolan Gorman struck out looking to end the game with runners on second and third. Gorman’s strikeout was his fourth of the game.

Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson allowed one run on three hits and four walks in six innings. He also struck out three for his second quality start of the season (four total starts).

Willson Contreras (1 for 2, two walks) extended his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games as well as his on-base streak to 24 games dating back to last season. The streaks are respectively the longest of Contreras’ career.

Lars Nootbaar (1 for 4, walk), Masyn Winn (1 for 3) and Nolan Arenado (1 for 5) also had hits in the loss.

Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, who entered the day with a 2.55 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings, held the Cardinals scoreless over six innings. Peralta allowed just four hits.

The Cardinals made a late push in the ninth with a two-out walk by Winn and a pinch-hit single by Alec Burleson. Pinch hitter Ivan Herrera then got hit by a pitch from reliever Joel Payamps to load the bases. Brendan Donovan walked to force in the tying run, and Paul Goldschmidt’s strikeout with the bases loaded sent the game into extra innings.

Standing on defense

The Cardinals brass pledged a renewed emphasis on defense this offseason and carried that same tone throughout spring training. While injuries have prevented them from maintaining the stability they’d hoped for in their defensive alignment, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol remains steadfast that a defensive focus is crucial despite a struggling offense at this early stage in the season.

The Cardinals entered Friday night ranked 25th in the majors in scoring (3.68 runs per game), 23rd in batting average (.226), 24th in on-base percentage (.300) and 24th in slugging percentage (.353) through the first 19 games.

Center field has been one position where the Cardinals have sorely struggled to generate offensive production. They entered the day with the lowest OPS (.261) in the majors from their center fielders. Rookie Victor Scott, who received a Minor League Gold Glove award for his defense last season, and Michael Siani have served as the center fielders with Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson on the injured list.

When asked prior to the game whether there was a temptation to put left fielder Nootbaar (.861 OPS in six games) in center field, a position he’s played in the past, Marmol replied, “It’s a matter of what you want to anchor to. I wouldn’t call it a temptation as much as just it’s an option. But you have to understand why we’ve been in the games we have been in, and you are trading something off there. We have two true center fielders in Scott and Siani. And if you say defense matters, defense has to matter.”

“I wouldn’t call it a temptation. It’s an option, but I’m not there yet.”

Central casting

Friday night’s series opener marked the first game of the season for the Cardinals against an NL Central Division foe. After the three-game weekend series, they won’t play another division opponent again until they travel to Milwaukee for a series that begins on May 9.

The Brewers came into the day leading the division, and the Cardinals were in fifth place in the five-team division with a record one game under .500.

“They’re a good team,” Cardinals All-Star third baseman Arenado said before the game. “I think if you saw the way they got rid of (former Cy Young Award winning pitcher Corbin) Burnes and a few guys, you probably wouldn’t have thought it. But they have a lot of talent over there and they have a good lineup, and they can hit. Then their pitching is always really good. It seems like they just know how to put it together.

“It’s going to be a tough series. We’ve got to take care of home field, and we’ve got to start winning more series.”

The game also brought the first match-up between the Cardinals and Brewers since the Brewers named Pat Murphy their manager this offseason. He replaced Craig Counsell, who took over as the Chicago Cubs manager.

Murphy had a long and successful career as a college head coach at Maryville College (Tennessee), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University before he became a minor league manager in the San Diego Padres’ farm system and eventually spent a stint as the Padres interim manager in 2015. He’d spent the past eight seasons as the Brewers bench coach.

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