It’s not the first half of the season anymore. Closer Clay Holmes struggled for the second straight appearance, entering the eighth inning and giving up an infield hit, a walk and a two-run double to Paul DeJong as the Yankees dropped their third straight, 4-3. at the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. With a retooled bullpen, manager Aaron Boone walked Holmes in the bottom of the eighth with a 3-2 lead. Boone later said that Aroldis Chapman would have pitched in the ninth if the Yankees were still ahead. “It’s not easy for us right now,” Boone said of his team, which is 70-36 but is just 12-16 in its last 28 games. Holmes was not the only culprit. The Yankees scored just three runs, and were scoreless after the fifth, despite beating the St. Louis, 10-5. Clay Holmes reacts after giving up a two-run double in the eighth inning. APClay Holmes made another save. Getty Images “It’s pretty disappointing,” said Matt Carpenter, who had two hits and a near miss but walked to end the game with the first tie. “It definitely feels like a game we were in control the whole time. They kept it close and left us far.” The eighth inning started innocently enough, as Holmes delivered a soft infield hit to Nolan Arenado with one out. He then walked Tyler O’Neill with two outs before DeJong — now 5-for-7 against Holmes — hit a two-run double. “One thing that has made me successful is limiting contact to righties,” Holmes said. “Giving up a double down the line, especially with runners on, can’t happen.” The fact that Chapman has played better of late, as well as the additions of Scott Efros (who was acquired from the Cubs on Monday and pitched well in 1 ¹/3 innings on Friday) and Lou Trivino at the deadline, are evidence of a very different bullpen down the stretch. “Let’s hope that we will all move as we can and [Chapman] it builds momentum,” Boone said. “We have a lot of options there.” Nestor Cortes pitches Friday during the Yankees’ loss to the Cardinals. USA TODAY Sports That would allow Holmes to attack right-handers in the seventh, eighth or ninth, but he has been less effective of late. Nestor Cortes pitched well, but wasn’t as sharp as usual, tying a season high with four walks in just 5 ¹/₃ innings. The Yankees took the lead in the top of the first after DJ LeMahieu led off with a walk. Aaron Judge walked, but LeMahieu advanced to third on a Carpenter single. With two outs, Josh Donaldson lined an RBI double to right-center, scoring LeMahieu and sending Carpenter to third. The Cardinals tied the score in the bottom of the second thanks to a pair of walks by Cortes and a one-out, run-scoring single by Yadier Molina. Matt Carpenter greets Cardinals fans upon his return to St. APTyler O’Neill (27) and Nolan Arenado (28) celebrate after scoring in the eighth inning. USA TODAY Sports Donaldson had his second RBI of the night in the third, singling in a run after Judge and Carpenter led off with singles against Dakota Hudson. Torres delivered in the fifth. After Judge singled and stole second, he moved to third on Carpenter’s groundout after Hudson was replaced by Andre Pallante. Torres then hit an infield hit that drove in Judge to make it 3-1. Cortes, who had allowed just three runs in 18 innings in his previous three starts, got into a groove after Molina’s RBI single, retiring nine in a row until a walk in the fifth. But Cortes also matched a season-high with four walks, including one off Paul Goldschmidt that ended Cortes’ night with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Tyler O’Neill leads off on his RBI single in the sixth inning. AP A wild pitch by Albert Abreu, who took over for Cortes, sent Goldschmidt to second. A single by Arenado put runners on the corners before Abreu hit Nolan Gorman, pinch hitting for Albert Pujols, for the second out. But Abreu faltered and allowed a hit by O’Neill to make it 3-2 as Cortes ended up being charged with two runs. Ephros came in and struck out De Jong to preserve the one-run lead. Pallante, meanwhile, took over for Hudson and threw four scoreless innings. Ryan Hesley finished the game for the Cardinals. After striking out LeMahieu with one out in the ninth, Tim Locastro pinch hit a run, but Judge and Carpenter couldn’t come through.