Friday was supposed to be a special day for certain members of the Red Sox.

Brayan Bello was starting on his 25th birthday, and it was Tyler O’Neill’s first game back in St. Louis. He made his Major League debut with them in July 2017, and wore Cardinal red until they traded him to Boston during the offseason. It was also a trip home for Tanner Houck; the St. Louis native isn’t lined up to pitch this weekend, but had plenty of loved ones on hand for the series opener.

Neither birthday nor homecomings were much cause for celebration, though. The Cardinals beat the Red Sox 10-6, matching their season-high runs allowed (Cleveland, April 16) and putting Boston under .500 for the first time since March 30, when they were three games into the season.

The Cardinals entered the game as the worst run-scoring team in the National League and with the fewest home runs in the Majors. They homered four times, and matched their season-high in runs scored.

For the second time in his career, Bello, who made his shortest outing of the season, gave up three home runs. In doing so, St. Louis took three leads against him in the first four innings.

“It was a bad outing,” he told reporters (through translator Carlos Villoria Benitez). “The team did everything possible to score runs. They gave me some run support, but I was unable to make adjustments.”

The righty couldn’t make it through the fifth; by the time he gave up an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt on his 100th pitch, Alex Cora had seen enough and called for Cam Booser, who gave up the Cardinals’ fourth home run – a two-run blast by Masyn Winn – in the following frame.

“The damage was done on the changeup, and (Bello) felt like he never had the feel for it tonight,” the Red Sox manager told reporters.

Compared to most of their recent games, it wasn’t a quiet night at the plate for Boston. They plated six runs on 12 hits – including a four-hit performance by Connor Wong – and drew four walks. However, they also were 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base, a painfully familiar problem this month.

“The bats are getting better,” Cora said.

Even so, the Sox wasted a chance to take an early lead in the top of the first, then fell behind immediately; they’re 5-15 when their opponent scores first.

Jarren Duran led off the game with a walk, only to be erased when Wilyer Abreu grounded into a force-out. Wong’s single, too, would be erased when Rafael Devers grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Brendan Donovan promptly led off the bottom of the first with a double, and Lars Nootbaar homered to give St. Louis an immediate 2-0 lead. Save for the third, the Cardinals would score in every frame.

But in the early innings, the Red Sox were still in it.

When O’Neill stepped up to the plate in the top of the second for his first at-bat as a visitor, the crowd gave him a huge ovation. He tipped his helmet in return, then shot a ball through the infield for a leadoff single. Like several of his teammates, he made hard contact against Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson on more than one occasion, but not hard enough, and that single would be his only hit of the contest. (O’Neill’s 382-foot flyout in the top of the sixth would’ve been a homer in five other National League ballparks, though.)

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the second, David Hamilton unlocked a new career achievement when he tied the game with his first triple. With a double in the seventh, he had his first multi-extra-base hit game, too.

After homering and doubling twice at Fenway Park on Thursday night, Duran continued his do-it-all season in St. Louis. The leadoff man drew walks in back-to-back at-bats to begin the night and after the latter free pass, stole his team-leading 10th base.

It was fitting that, of all the innings, Devers came through in the top of the third. For the third time in his career, he’d homered for the third consecutive game. In doing so, he passed Nomar Garciaparra to take sole possession of 12th on the Red Sox all-time home runs list.

But each time the Red Sox began to claw back, the Cardinals immediately widened the gap again. When Duran and Wong drove in a run apiece in the seventh to pull within two, their hosts scored two of their own in the bottom of the inning.

Chase Anderson was on the verge of a scoreless ninth, but after getting two quick outs, he issued back-to-back walks to Nootbaars and Goldschmidt, setting the stage for Arenado to plate St. Louis’ 10th run with a single.

The Red Sox made one last attempt in the top of the ninth. Rob Refsnyder singled and advanced to second on an error by the pitcher. Wong’s fourth hit moved him to third, and he scored Boston’s sixth run on Devers’ force-out.

That was all she wrote.