Johan Oviedo followed the best start of his major league career — a complete-game shutout Monday at Kansas City — with one of his shortest and worst starts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander dealt with command problems and tied his career-worst with six walks, as the St. Louis Cardinals loaded the bases four times and drew more walks (nine) than hits (eight) in a 6-4 win Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

“The biggest thing is just the walks,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “The walks ended up killing us.”

The loss snapped a five-game win streak and prevented a second consecutive series sweep for the Pirates, who play a three-game set against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers starting Monday at PNC Park.

“We’ve been good,” Pirates shortstop Liover Peguero said. “I feel like we can’t let this one game take us away and make us think something else. I feel like we’ve got to continue to do what we’ve been doing, playing together and keep moving forward together.”

Oviedo’s fastball command was erratic, and he threw only 48 of his 97 pitches for strikes while giving up five runs (three earned) on four hits in 3 2/3 innings.

“It just looked like he over-rotated a little bit and lost his arm slot a little bit,” Shelton said. “Overall, it was just lack of fastball command.”

Oviedo got into a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, when Lars Nootbaar hit a leadoff single and Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman drew walks. But Oviedo escaped unscathed, thanks to a terrific play at third base by Ke’Bryan Hayes.

Hayes knocked down Nolan Arenado’s scorcher, then threw to catcher Jason Delay to force out Nootbaar. Oviedo then got Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker to pop out.

Miguel Andujar drilled Cardinals lefty Zack Thompson’s 1-2 cutter 405 feet down the left field line for his third homer and a 1-0 Pirates lead in the second inning. Added to the active roster on Friday after slashing .338/.404/.536 with 30 doubles, 16 homers and 86 RBIs at Triple-A Indianapolis, Andujar went 2 for 4 with two RBIs after recording an RBI double in Saturday’s 7-6 win over the Cardinals.

“He’s done a good job,” Shelton said. “He hit the home run, and the ball he hit down the right field line (for a fly out in the fourth) I actually thought was a homer, too. Looked like that one just hit a wall and came back. … This is a guy who had a really good year in Triple-A and deserved the call-up when we had the opportunity. He’s had really consistent at-bats.”

Peguero followed with a single to right but was caught stealing second when he tripped on the infield dirt. He ripped a hole in his pants on an awkward fall and appeared to be injured, but remained in the game.

“The dirt was really muddy,” Peguero said, “and I just hit it rough.”

The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second and Gorman’s two-run single lifted them to a 2-1 lead.

When Oviedo found the strike zone with his fastball in the third, Walker hit a liner 387 feet to left for his 14th homer and a 3-1 Cardinals lead.

The Pirates tied it in the fourth, when Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen led off with back-to-back singles and Connor Joe grounded into a forceout at second that allowed Reynolds to score. Peguero hit a two-out double off the top of the left field wall to drive in Joe to tie it.

“We kept playing,” Shelton said. “We played all the way through the ninth inning. … I’m proud of our group the way they battled. The walks just ended up hurting us.”

Oviedo encountered more trouble in the bottom of the fourth, when he walked Tommy Edman and got Nootbaar to ground to short but Peguero dropped the ball and was charged with an error. With two outs, Oviedo walked Arenado to load the bases for the third time. Lefty Ryan Borucki replaced Oviedo but gave up a two-run single to Burleson that gave the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

Walker doubled with two outs in the seventh, then scored on a throwing error by second baseman Vinny Capra on a Richie Palacios single when first baseman Joe couldn’t scoop the throw. The Pirates challenged the call at the plate, but it was upheld after review.

Thompson struck out six while allowing three runs on seven hits in seven innings before being replaced by Andre Pallante. With one out and the bases loaded, Andujar grounded into a forceout at second but beat the throw to first to allow Reynolds to score to cut it to 6-4. The Cardinals challenged that Andujar was out at first before the call was upheld, but Peguero grounded out to short to end the rally.

The Pirates had another pivotal call go their way in the bottom of the eighth, when the Cardinals loaded the bases again as Cody Bolton walked Edman and Nootbaar before striking out Paul Goldschmidt. The Pirates turned to Jose Hernandez, who struck out Gorman before issuing an intentional walk to Arenado.

Then the Pirates got a terrific defensive play.

When Burleson hit a grounder up the middle, Peguero made a diving stop and threw to first from his knees.

“That was crazy,” Peguero said. “I didn’t know I had a chance. Thank goodness I didn’t give up and I was able to make that catch. About the throw, what can I say? It was just crazy.”

Burleson was called safe by first base umpire Charlie Ramos, appearing to allow Edman and Nootbaar to score. But the play was overturned after review, ending the inning and keeping the score within two runs.

“The play Peggy made in the bottom of the eighth was an unbelievable play,” Shelton said.

In the ninth, Cardinals righty Giovanny Gallegos struck out Jack Suwinski, got pinch hitter Endy Rodriguez to ground out to second and pinch hitter Joshua Palacios to fly out to left to end the game.

“We played well,” Shelton said of the 5-1 road trip. “We continued to battle back in the game and had opportunities near the end of the game to tie it or go ahead and we just couldn’t find a big hit.”

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