It carried into the first inning Tuesday as Contreras, a day after his career-high 14-game hitting streak ended, tagged a pitch from Arizona starter Tommy Henry to center field for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead. Against a lefty with a 6.87 ERA, the Cardinals had an extra-base, a lead, and it came from Contreras in the No. 2 spot. Just about nothing else went right from there. Henry would not allow another run and Contreras was out of the game before the Diamondbacks’ lefty was as he struck out six in six innings.

The Cardinals lost for the fifth time in their past six games and have been outscored 39 to 15 in that stretch. All of it in less than a week.

Lead unravels on four pitches

Within the span of four pitches in the third inning, Cardinals starter Matz dropped from creating an escape hatch for himself to a game coming apart all around him.

Two walks put the lefty in a bind with the top of Arizona's lefty-devouring order coming around for the second time. He was able to strike out catcher Gabriel Moreno for the second out of the inning. The Cardinals led by Contreras’ home run at the time, and with two outs, Matz had an avenue of the inning without allowing a run. It vanished within four pitches. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ‘s three-pitch at-bat ended with a two-out, RBI single that tied the game. The next pitch — a misplaced 84-mph change-up — Christian Walker crushed for a three-run homer into the left-field seats.

Two swings, each with two outs, produced four runs.

The Cardinals lead was vaporized.

A rout was yet to come.

Mess in middle suggests move coming

The innings left untended by Matz fell to lefty Zack Thompson, and he pitched deep into the ERA-bruising night, deep enough that it’s likely the Cardinals will use a roster move to refresh the bullpen.

Thompson entered in the middle of the fifth inning, allowed both of the runners he inherited to score and by the time the seventh inning arrived he had thrown nearly 60 pitches and allowed seven of his own runs. Six of them came on two homers. Kevin Newman hit his first homer of the season to inflate the Diamondback’s lead in the fifth inning, and in the sixth Pavin Smith drilled his second career grand slam.

That put Arizona ahead, 14-1.

Back in the fifth inning, when the Cardinals are clinging to a three-run lead that was about to crack wider open, Thompson and right-hander Ryan Fernandez warmed up in tandem. Fernandez was key to the comeback Monday night when he pitched a scoreless chase inning that was prelude to the Cardinals’ offense stirring. As the game titled sideways and an encore seemed unlikely, in came Thompson. Innings became his assignment. He needed to shoulder them — even as he possibly threw himself closer to a move to Class AAA Memphis with every pitch.

Thompson, who opened the season in the Cardinals’ rotation, allowed seven runs on seven hits through 2 2/3 innings. He piloted the Cardinals to the eighth inning, where newcomer Nick Robertson made his Cardinals’ debut.

Gorman has run after walk-off

A day after ending an 0-for-18 tumble with that walk-off homer, infielder Gorman did maintain momentum that the overall team could not. Gorman doubled in his first at-bat Tuesday, and he followed that with a single in the fifth inning to give him three hits in three consecutive at-bats. He finished the game 2 for 4.

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