ST. LOUIS -- Reynaldo López gave the Braves exactly what they needed after a rocky first inning.
Owen Murphy followed with the longest outing of his young Major League career.
Neither proved to be enough.
Atlanta's offense remained stuck in neutral Saturday night, managing to score just once in a 4-1 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The defeat marked the Braves' second straight loss to open the series, dropped them to 54-40 and trimmed their National League East lead to two games over the Phillies (53-43) entering Sunday's first-half finale.
The bigger concern, however, lies at the plate.
The Braves have scored just two runs through the first two games of the series and have now been held to one run or fewer in consecutive games for the third time this season. After showing signs of breaking out offensively earlier in July, Atlanta once again struggled to string together quality at-bats against left-hander Matthew Liberatore, who bet the Braves for the second time in less than two weeks, blanking them over six efficient innings.
"The offense has been inconsistent," manager Walt Weiss said. "June was tough, and we showed some signs of life and had some really good offensive games in July so far. But these last two have been tough."
López's night got off to the worst possible start and turned on one swing. After allowing two hits in the opening inning, López surrendered a two-out, three-run homer to Lars Nootbaar that immediately put Atlanta behind.
It could have snowballed. Instead, López settled in.
The right-hander worked five innings, allowing four runs while continuing to build back toward a full starter's workload. He finished with 85 pitches, matching the five innings he logged against St. Louis less than two weeks earlier, while showing encouraging signs after the opening frame.
"Regardless of what happens, I think the most important thing in this game is to be able to turn the page," López said through team interpreter Franco García. "Whether you commit an error or something goes wrong, you've got to be able to put it behind you and continue to execute. I think that's something I work really hard on."
Atlanta's offense never rewarded that effort.
The Braves managed just four hits through Liberatore's six innings despite placing leadoff runners aboard in both the fifth and sixth. Austin Riley singled in the fifth before Michael Harris II opened the sixth with another base hit, but neither rally developed.
Mauricio Dubón finally broke up the shutout by launching a leadoff homer in the seventh, but it was the Braves' lone run of the night.
"It's frustrating," Dubón said. "We hit a couple balls hard and didn't get lucky. ... Sometimes things don't go your way, but you've got to come back and keep executing. We play 162."
While Atlanta's offense sputtered, Murphy quietly provided one of the night's brightest developments.
Recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game after Friday night's rain-shortened start by Chris Sale taxed the bullpen, the 22-year-old right-hander delivered three scoreless innings in just his second Major League appearance -- the longest outing of his young career.
Murphy attacked the strike zone fearlessly, exactly what the Braves hoped for when they summoned him earlier in the day to provide length.
"Owen Murphy was outstanding," Weiss said. "Pounding the strike zone. Fastball playing up. Pretty fearless on the mound, attacking the zone."
His outing also underscored Atlanta's growing need for contributions throughout the pitching staff as injuries and recent short starts have continued to test the bullpen.
Still, the Braves walked away with the same issue they've spent much of the past month trying to solve.
Even with López recovering after the first inning and Murphy stabilizing the back end of the game, Atlanta couldn't generate enough offense to make either outing matter.
"We're in first place," Weiss said. "We've played great the first couple months, and it's been tough ever since. But you've got to look at the cumulative picture. Try to win one tomorrow, get to the break and start another streak coming out of it."
For the Braves, salvaging Sunday's finale would do more than avoid a sweep.
It would provide a much-needed reminder that the offense they've been searching for is still in there somewhere.