ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals’ long ascent back to contention in the National League Central Division must start with a shorter climb to .500. They have reached neither yet, but to accomplish one and then another, they have to string together a fistful of series wins.
The first of those came Sunday when the Cardinals squeezed out a 2-1 victory at Busch Stadium over Western Division pacesetter San Francisco. After dropping the first game of the series on Friday, the Cardinals posted 3-1 and 2-1 wins in succession and now are one win shy of .500 at 46-47.
They remain nine games behind first-place Milwaukee but that is a conservation for another day.