That was painful — to say the least.

So many missed opportunities — seven walks by Gio Gonzalez during the first five innings, yet only two runs scored since he also only allowed one hit.

Bases loaded for the Cardinals in the seventh with no outs and Allen Craig up. One pitch, one out. Yadier Molina was next — one pitch, GIDP, inning over.

Adam Wainwright became the first Cardinals pitcher since Bob Gibson to have 10 strikeouts in a game, which was good.

The top of the eighth: not so good. Nor was an error by Pete Kozma to start the inning on a Michael Morse grounder. Ian Desmond then singled, which allowed Morse to move to third. Mitchell Boggs did strike out Kurt Suzuki … and then Mike Matheny opted to bring in Marc Rzepczynski, while Davey Johnson then chose to pinch-hit righty Tyler Moore instead of lefty Chad Tracy. And we all see the number 2 in the box score above …

Still, 10 runners left on base and swinging at the first pitch in crucial at-bats — tough to win a very close ball game that way.