On Sunday afternoon in St. Louis, the Red Sox are just hoping to avoid getting swept.

Boston has a four-game losing streak, and with their 7-2 loss on Saturday night, are 22-24 and in something of a free-fall. Other than Rafael Devers’ four-game homer streak, which matches his career-high (reached twice before), the offense continues to struggle mightily. Over 16 games this month, the Red Sox lineup is slashing a meager .229/.293/.375 with 152 strikeouts and only 53 runs scored, including 11 home runs. They’ve compiled double-digit strikeout totals seven times in May and are averaging over seven men left on base per game. Since May 2, they’re hitting .161 with runners in scoring position and averaging 3.1 runs per game; the end result is a 4-11 record over that span. They hit .268 with RSIP and averaged 5.8 between April 19-May 1, and went 8-3 in those games.

The bullpen, too, is faltering. After allowing one run (earned) and striking out 14 batters over his 10 April outings (0.52 ERA, 17.1 innings), Justin Slaten has been hit hard in May. In his six outings this month, the rookie right-hander has been tagged for nine runs (eight earned) on 13 hits, and only struck out eight batters in 6.2 innings. He incurred the majority of that damage on Saturday night when took over for Brennan Bernardino with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits.

Red Sox lineup (May 19)

Jarren Duran LF

Rob Refsnyder RF

Tyler O’Neill DH

Rafael Devers 3B

Connor Wong C

Garrett Cooper 1B

Romy Gonzalez SS

Vaughn Grissom 2B

Ceddanne Rafaela CF

Cardinals lineup (May 19)

Matt Carpenter DH

Lars Nootbaar RF

Paul Goldschmidt 1B

Nolan Arenado 3B

Alec Burleson LF

Brendan Donovan 2B

Brandon Crawford SS

Pedro Pagés C

Michael Siani CF

Red Sox vs. Cardinals probable starting pitchers

RHP Nick Pivetta vs. LHP Matthew Liberatore

How to watch Red Sox vs. Cardinals

When: 1:05 p.m. ET

Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis MO

TV: Roku (National broadcast, free with MLBTV subscription)

Red Sox radio: WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish)

Cardinals radio: KMOX 1120 AM/98.7 FM, Cardinals Radio Network, WIJR AM 880 (Spanish)

May 19 in baseball history

1910: Former Red Sox pitcher Cy Young sets an MLB record that stands to this day when he picks up his 500th career win.

1933: Red Sox catcher Rick Ferrell and his brother, Cleveland Indians’ Wes Ferrell, make MLB history as the first brothers to homer in the same game, but on opposing teams. Rick’s home run is hit off his brother in the second inning.

1976: After passing Ted Williams to set a franchise record for games played in a Red Sox uniform, Carl Yastrzemski goes 4-for-4 with three home runs and four RBI. It’s the legendary Red Sox captain’s first and ultimately only three-homer game of his illustrious career.

(Sources: Baseball-Reference, SABR, Nationalpastime.com)