In each of the trades the Cardinals have made this season to augment an underachieving roster, the club has sided with pitching or defense over offense.

It would be easier to measure their improvement if they scored more runs.

Starter Jake Westbrook, one spoil of the Cardinals' dealing, authored his fourth quality start in as many chances with the Cardinals. And, again, it was met with indifferent support as the Cardinals lost, 6-3, to San Francisco on Friday and fell to their first five-game losing streak at home since 1999. Their longest losing streak of the season left the Cardinals three behind leader Philadelphia and two behind the Giants in the Wild Card standings. The Cardinals trail division-leading Cincinnati by 4 1/2 games.

"We need to figure out when to play better," said Albert Pujols, whose 32nd home run of the season provided one of the Cardinals' late runs. "There are a lot of different things that we aren't doing the right way, and you can't win like that. ... Every game is important. There's no tomorrow.

"We need to win games."

Pujols said the troubles are much broader than the offense. But it's hard to overlook a stubbornly inconsistent lineup that has scored three or fewer runs in four of its previous five games. In those games, the Cardinals have received quality starts from Westbrook, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia, and they have yet to win once. The lineup has backed the starters with four runs of support when the pitchers are in the game.

Newcomer Pedro Feliz, added Thursday from Houston in exchange for a minor-league pitcher, had two hits and scored two of the Cardinals' three runs in his debut Friday. The Cardinals hoped Feliz, acquired for his above-average glove at third base, would be more than his .221 average -- but not most of their offense.

The Cardinals have not had a lead in 44 innings.

Manager Tony La Russa fixated on only one.

In the ninth inning, the Cardinals got the tying run to the plate against Giants closer Brian Wilson. Matt Holliday fell behind in the count before grounding out to give Wilson his 35th save. La Russa took issue with a called strike that he felt upended Holliday's at-bat. La Russa invited a fine for being critical of home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom's strike zone in the final inning.

All he needed was a question about the offense to provoke him.

"It wasn't as tough as it looked," La Russa said. "We had a great chance in the ninth. Major League Baseball can go ahead and fine me. But there were several strikes that a guy as good as Brian Wilson got that he doesn't need. Who knows how that inning would have been. That's just not right."

La Russa's complaints couldn't mask the other innings when the Cardinals failed to threaten against the San Francisco starter, rookie Madison Bumgarner, or when they needed four hits to scare up one run. A rookie battery propelled the Giants to the win, as Bumgarner (5-4) struck out five and held the Cardinals to two runs on nine hits. The second run he allowed was Pujols' homer to lead off the eighth and end the rookie's night. Bumgarner's catcher, rookie Buster Posey, staked the lefty to 2-0 lead with his second-inning double. Posey doubled again in the seventh before Aubrey Huff widened the Giants' gap with a homer.

Bookended by those rallies, third baseman Pablo Sandoval hit his 10th home run of the season, his second in as many days and his fourth in his previous eight games. That gave the Giants three runs.

That's all Milwaukee or the Cubs needed to win at Busch this week.

"I don't think that's very fair," La Russa fired when asked again about the offense. "When we scored two runs, I said we could do better. How many hits did we get? This isn't the same game. I don't think that's a very fair comment. We took a lot of swings, got a lot of baseball. Doesn't that count for something? It does with me."

It counted for three runs off 13 hits.

The first run came as a result of four singles off Bumgarner in the second inning. Brendan Ryan struck a grounder up the middle and beat shortstop Mike Fontenot's throw for a bases-loaded, RBI infield single. Fontenot's throw skipped past first base, but catcher Yadier Molina had already been stopped at third by coach Jose Oquendo and did not wheel around to score the tying run. Molina said he did not see the ball go to the Cardinals' dugout and ricochet back.

Bumgarner allowed only two more batters to reach scoring position before Pujols' homer in the eighth. That keyed a cosmetic rally for the Cardinals as Jon Jay's RBI groundout cut the Giants' lead down to three runs.

The Cardinals' offense is undermanned because of Colby Rasmus' lingering calf strain and the trade of Ryan Ludwick. The club craved pitching at the deadline and had to swap Ludwick to get Westbrook (1-1). The righthander has done his part. He fought his command throughout Friday's loss, but grinded through six innings and left having allowed three run on seven hits. He struck out seven, the third time in four starts he's had at least seven strikeouts.

The Cardinals were 48-24 in games started by Wainwright, Carpenter and Garcia before this losing streak. Throw in Westbrook's start Friday and in the past 25 innings, the foursome has a 3.24 ERA -- and an 0-4 record.

The Cardinals sought defense and pitching.

Runs will have to be handled internally.

"We need to figure out how to turn things around," Pujols said. "We can't start pointing fingers in here. We all are not playing the way we are supposed to play. That's the reality."