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Holland allowed two earned runs on three hits and a walk without recording an out in a loss to the Royals on Tuesday.
Brought on with the Cardinals already trailing 3-1 to start the ninth, Holland exacerbated the situation. He allowed back-to-back singles to Abraham Almonte and Alcides Escobar to open the outing before issuing a walk to Hunter Dozier and surrendering a two-run single to Jon Jay. The 32-year-old's third straight two-run appearance pushed his ERA to a bloated 8.76, third-highest among relievers with at least 15 appearances. Despite the rough stretch, manager Mike Matheny, who'd viewed Tuesday's scenario as a low-leverage situation that could potentially build Holland's confidence, pledged to continue deploying the struggling veteran selectively, Sean Collins of MLB.com reports. "There will continue to be situations where we're down, and hopefully we can get him into a good place in his own mind confidence-wise, but it's a shame right now we can't get him there," Matheny said.
