ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals manager Mike Shildt took his team’s production with runners in scoring position with a hint of optimism on Wednesday night after the Cardinals’ 2-0 loss to the Cubs at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals’ offense had its chances against Kyle Hendricks, with four doubles and three hard-hit singles against the Cubs right-hander. But Hendricks stranded all seven runners in his seven innings, and the Cardinals were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position on the night.

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“The optimist in you wants to say that you have to have a lot of runners on base to strand them, and we did both,” Shildt said. “A lot of good at-bats. We hadn’t done a lot of damage to Hendricks -- hit some balls hard, but we had four doubles against him tonight. Three leadoff doubles, two-out double. Just weren’t able to execute with runners in scoring position. We had our chances.”

The RISP problem reached a climax in the bottom of the ninth against Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel. After Kolten Wong singled and Rangel Ravelo moved him to third with a pinch-hit double, Matt Wieters was retired on a sharp grounder right at third baseman Kris Bryant and Yairo Munoz struck out swinging to end the game.

Hendricks has shut down the Cardinals all year; in his three starts against St. Louis, he’s allowed one run in 23 innings. So the seven hits against him Wednesday night was a small victory, albeit not one the Cardinals want.

“Hendricks pitches us tough,” Shildt said. “Tonight, [we had] leadoff doubles and weren’t able to get them in or over. Had him on the ropes. It was just soft contact in the infield, strikeouts, popups [in the] infield. He makes pitches, and we’ve got to figure out a way to be more consistent. I feel like we’re getting that Rubik’s Cube solved now, we’ve just got to start plating some guys on him.”

In their last four games, the Cardinals are 3-for-39 with runners in scoring position, and they’ve lost three of those four games -- two the Astros and one to the Cubs.

Shildt and the hitters are also taking that statistic with a dose of optimism, noting the amount of times they knocked in runners in scoring position on their road trip against the Reds (10-for-32) and the Pirates (7-for-27), when they won seven out of eight.

“We can’t get reactive about a couple of games when we’ve really been pretty good at it,” Shildt said. “That’s the reason we’ve been able to win a lot of ballgames. We’ll get back to the approach.”

The Cardinals’ task now is to find a way to consistently score against quality starters on contending teams.

“I think it’s staying consistent with your approach and trusting your preparation going up there with what you’re planning to do from the start of the game,” third baseman Tommy Edman said. “I think I got out of my approach today, and I imagine other guys did as well. I think it’s just making sure you’re staying disciplined in those situations.”

Shildt added: “Sometimes you do tip your hat. It’s a combination of the other guys making good pitches and us staying with our plan. Ultimately, it’s about us staying with our plan and executing.”