ST. LOUIS – Nearly one month removed from the trade deadline and with nearly one month remaining this season, the St. Louis Cardinals have hit one of their biggest skids in a disappointing campaign.

The Cardinals have lost 10 of their last 12 games and bring a four-game losing streak into Tuesday.

The latest loss, which spoiled one of Adam Wainwright’s best opportunities for career win No. 199, puts the Cardinals 20 games under the .500 mark. It’s been almost three decades since a Cardinals team fell that far back. That last happened late in the 1995 season.

Just how ugly has this stretch been for the Cardinals? They’re only averaging around 2 runs per game and giving up around 7 per game in their last dozen contests.

The Cardinals are in a tough spot when it comes to measuring performance. On one hand, the team traded away several veterans to stock the farm system and give younger players more opportunities, so some regression was to be expected as guys get acclimated to new roles. However, the Cardinals have an unusual opportunity to play spoiler against many teams down the stretch, and these prolonged slumps don’t inspire confidence they’ll help much in that regard.

After falling victim to a three-game sweep in Philadelphia, manager Oli Marmol implied the first point factored more into recent results.

“We understand where we’re at,” said Marmol via Bally Sports Midwest. “We had a pretty good understanding of what this was going to look like after the trade deadline. They’re competing like crazy, but we’re giving young guys an opportunity to show what they’re capable of doing. There are going to be ups and downs. It’s part of it.”

The Cardinals, at 56-76 with the second-worst record in the National League, continue a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday. Exactly 30 games remain in the season.