With mediocre pitching, Cardinals still searching for an identity

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LOS ANGELES — The bases were loaded and there was nobody out in a tie game, so the tension in the St. Louis Cardinals’ infield was on high as Carlos Martinez prepared to make a key pitch to one of the best young hitters in baseball, Corey Seager.

The Cardinals had begun to suspect that Scott Kazmir had relayed one of their signs to Seager from second base, so catcher Yadier Molina tried to call timeout to start his sequence of signs over. Plate umpire Adam Hamari declined to grant it, saying it was too late.

Seager ripped a 91-mile-per-hour changeup into right field to trigger a three-run inning that would send the Cardinals to a 5-3 loss at Dodger Stadium.

“Sure enough, whenever you do that, try to call time and don’t get it, the pitch thrown is a hard hit for a run,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “Yadi was just frustrated at that point, because Carlos is fighting trying to find it and trying to stay in the game.”

Carlos Martinez’s 41-pitch fifth-inning Saturday was a metaphor for his May struggles. Jayne Kamin/USA TODAY Sports

Molina began yelling in the direction of the umpire, prompting Matheny to perch on the top step in case he needed to run out to keep his All-Star …

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