Slumping Solarte out of lineup for finale vs. Cards

ST. LOUIS -- Manager Joe Girardi stressed that baseball is filled with streaks. Yangervis Solarte finds himself in the middle of a cold one.

Solarte's .285 batting average remains tops among rookies across the Majors, but it's dropped in recent games. Since May 15, a day after he watched his nine-game hitting streak end, Solarte has hit just .152.

The 26-year-old left multiple runners on base in Tuesday's 6-0 loss to the Cardinals, hitting into a double play with two on and one out in one inning and popping out with two on and two out in another.

On Wednesday he was held out of the lineup.

"We always look for reasons why a guy is scuffling," Girardi said. "It's part of the game. ... Players go through things, either really hot streaks or cold streaks. If you didn't go through them, you'd probably hit .400 or .500 all the time.

"You know they're going to go through them, and when they're going through them, sometimes you just need to give them a little break."