Former Texas A&M baseball and current St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha allowed three home runs as the Cardinals dropped game three of their National League Division Series playoff matchup with the Chicago Cubs 8-6 at Wrigley Field.

Wacha, who sported 17-7 record and an E.R.A. of 3.38 in the regular season, struggled to find his groove in his first action of the playoffs.

In the bottom of the third inning with one out and the Cardinals leading 2-1, Wacha left a curveball hanging over the middle of the plate for the CubsStarlin Castro, who launched the pitch 413 feet over the ivy in left center field to tie the ball game up at two apiece.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the game remained squared up at two. However,Kris Bryant of the Cubs, who was second on the team with 26 regular season homers, stepped up to the plate determined to break the stalemate.

With a runner on first and one out, Wacha delivered three consecutive balls to open the at-bat, but worked his way back into the count, drawing it full at three balls and two strikes. Wacha’s payoff pitch, though, found the center of Bryant’s bat and was redirected over the wall in left field, igniting the sold out crowd of 42,411 Cubs fans.

With the Cubs now winning 4-2 midway through the fifth inning, the Cardinals manager, Mike Matheny, elected to remove Wacha from the game.

In 90 pitches, Wacha struck out five of the 21 batters he faced in 4.1 innings pitched. However, Wacha surrendered four runs on six hits and was credited with the loss. Further, Wacha struck out twice in his two plate appearances.

The Cubs now take a 2-1 series lead as they host game four at Wrigley Field at 3:37 p.m. Tuesday.