ST. LOUIS (AP) -- It had been nearly a year since Trevor Cahill had such a rough night.
Cahill was hit hard over five innings as the Diamondbacks lost 7-1 to the Cardinals on Monday in their series opener.
"I was just falling behind a lot," he said. "I was just behind in the count it felt like the whole game, and the couple times I was ahead, I wasn't able to put them away. If I'm working behind in the count, they're too good of a team to have a good game when you're 1-0 or 2-0 the whole time."
Cahill (3-6) was charged with five runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked three and had no strikeouts for the first time this season.
He had allowed four earned runs or fewer in 29 consecutive starts dating to June 27.
"You've got to execute a certain way, because everyone knows they're a very good hitting ballclub, especially with runners in scoring position," manager Kirk Gibson said. "He really didn't have very good command. His ball-to-strike ratio wasn't good. Give those guys some credit. You've got to execute better, keep the ball down, and we weren't able to do that tonight."
Cahill threw 53 of his 91 pitches for strikes while falling to 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in two starts this season against the Cardinals.
Lance Lynn pitched seven solid innings for major league-leading St. Louis (38-19), which got home runs from Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran.
The Cardinals went 4 for 8 with runners in scoring position against the usually stout Cahill. Entering the game, batters had just a .111 average against him in that situation.
Lynn (8-1) allowed one run and five hits, struck out six and walked one. He improved to 8-1 for the second consecutive season while becoming the third National League pitcher to reach eight wins, trailing Patrick Corbin's league-leading nine for Arizona.
"It was a good night," Lynn said. "We had a good plan and I was able to make some pitches."
Molina hit a leadoff drive in the fifth on the same day he received a one-game suspension from Major League Baseball for making contact with umpire Mike Everitt during an argument on Sunday. The All-Star catcher appealed the decision.
Molina's fourth homer gave St. Louis a 5-0 lead. He finished with two hits and two RBIs.
The Diamondbacks got their only run in the sixth. Gerardo Parra had a leadoff double, moved up on Martin Prado's flyout and came home on Paul Goldschmidt's groundout.
It was the only time the D-backs got past first base against Lynn.
"He's very deceptive," Gibson. "He's pitched well for them this year, and he pitched a good game against us tonight. So to beat guys like that, you've got to play a much tighter game and we were unable to match him tonight."
Beltran and Matt Carpenter had three hits apiece for the Cardinals. Beltran's 13th homer drove in Carpenter and made it 7-1 in the sixth. He also drove in Carpenter in the fourth with a single.
St. Louis went 5 for 8 with runners in scoring position against the usually stout Cahill. Entering the game, batters had just a .111 average against him in that situation.
David Freese singled in Molina in the third, making it 3-0 and extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Molina had singled in Matt Holliday before taking second on the throw home and third on a wild pitch.
NOTES: Carpenter extended his hitting streak to 12 game with a single in the first, tying his career high set from September 12-24, 2012. ... Tyler Skaggs makes his second start of the year Tuesday for the Diamondbacks in place of Brandon McCarthy, who is on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder issues. The team has not yet made a roster move to accommodate Skaggs' return from Triple-A Reno. ... St. Louis' Joe Kelly will make his first start of 2013 on Wednesday. He made 16 starts in 2012 with a 4-6 record but has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen this year in 16 appearances. ... Corbin was named the National League's pitcher of the month for May, when he went 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA.
