The right-hander won a National League-high 21 games a year ago, and like number one starters are supposed to, put a stop to four losing streaks of three or more games, beating the likes of Cliff Lee, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in the process.

With the Diamondbacks in the throes of a 5-game losing streak, Kennedy pitched seven solid innings in a win over Randall Delgado and the Atlanta Braves on April 22.

Going into Tuesday night's game, the Diamondbacks had lost three straight and once again turned to Kennedy to stop the bleeding. But this time, the IPK band-aid wasn't enough. Kennedy yielded 6 earned runs over 7 innings, including a second inning grand slam to Carlos Beltran in the Cardinals' 6-1 win at Chase Field. It was only the third grand slam Kennedy has allowed in his career, and the first since Cardinals' slugger Lance Berkman clubbed one against him last April.

"It just really sucks when you feel like you put your team down in a big, big hole, it's harder to come back out of it," Kennedy said. "And that's my responsibility."

The Cardinals jumped on Kennedy early. Leadoff man John Jay tripled and scored on a Beltran solo homer in the first.

But after the four-spot posted by St. Louis in the second inning, Kennedy settled down. In fact, he retired the last 13 Cardinal hitters he faced.

"I felt like I was in a better rhythm later on," Kennedy said. "I didn't really have that in the first two innings."

Kennedy has now lost back-to-back starts for the first time since a 4-game losing streak in July of 2010, and his personal 10-game winning streak at Chase Field ended as well.

The Diamondbacks have lost four straight and have fallen to 14-17, 5.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Manager Kirk Gibson says the team will maintain its positive approach.

"What's the other choice," Gibson asked. "The other choice would never even be in my vocabulary.

"We went through this last year. We still have ability. There's really no excuse, it's just the way it is and we will come out of it together. It's not going to be one guy who is going to carry the torch. We can get on a roll, it can change quickly."

Arizona Sports' Kyndra de St. Aubin contributed to this report