It wasn’t just that the Cardinals’ depleted lineup had difficulty producing hits Friday night, it was also how many hits the pitchers allowed.

The Cardinals trailed by six runs before they got their first hit of the game, and by the time they managed to get two runners on base in the same inning they were behind by seven runs. The San Francisco Giants laced the Cardinals for 18 hits on their way to a 8-2 victory Friday at Busch Stadium that kept the home team from tying their guests with 71 wins.

With members of the charismatic 1985 Cardinals in town to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their National League pennant, the heat was on quickly. Rafael Devers and Willy Adams hit solo homers in the first inning of rookie pitcher Michael McGreevy to stake the Giants to an early lead. Throughou

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