In the short term, St. Louis City SC lost 3-1 to FC Cincinnati on Saturday night, the team’s second loss in a row. It’s been outscored 5-1 in those games, with its only goal accidentally put in by the other team.

In the long term, the game might have meant more than that.

Eduard Lowen made his return to play after missing more than two months because of a hamstring injury, all the while also dealing with his wife needing surgery for brain cancer. Lowen came off the bench and played the final 16 minutes of the game as the team builds his strength after his lengthy absence. The return of one of the team’s leaders, both on the field and off, is a big step for the club and Lowen.

“Everything else is secondary,” City SC coach Bradley Carnell said after the game. “You could see Edu is a little bit away from fitness, but the only way to get real minutes is in real games. And that’s really good for Edu. Hopefully he can use this as an outlet, and sometimes players are seeking for an outlet and soccer could be the outlet. So it was great to see Edu out there. You saw some good touches, but I’m not even looking to comment on Edu’s game today. That’s for me secondary.”

“I mean, it’s …” City SC rookie midfielder Hosei Kijima said, pausing to collect himself, “emotional. I think for me personally, it’s been so good to see him just training and being around us. I greet him with a hug every morning when he comes in to training and a hug every time he leaves training. I want to learn from him a lot as a player as well. So both sides, off and on the field, so I think it’s been great to see him back.”

At practice on Thursday, as players did their jogging before starting the session, Kijima was in the back of the pack alongside Lowen, asking him questions.

“I try to ask questions just out of the blue to challenge his mind as well,” he said. “Asking questions whenever I can to absorb all his mentality, his technique, his demeanor, I think is very important for me developing as well as understanding him as a player.”

Lowen probably will have at least one more game off the bench as he gets back up to speed, but having a player with his offensive acumen — he was tied for fourth in assists last season — will only help City SC. Lowen will also make the team’s set pieces, either free kicks or corner kicks, that much better.

The offense has, at times, needed some help. The team avoided being shut out for the third time in four games only because Cincinnati defender Matt Miazga, under no pressure, put a little too much zip on a back pass to his goalie and put it in the net for an own goal. That brought City SC within a goal in the second half, and the team threatened to tie — Aziel Jackson had a diving header go wide of the far post in the 71st minute — but ultimately couldn’t get things to work as several promising runs by City SC players kind of faded away.

It’s feast or famine for City SC’s offense, which in the past five games has produced three, zero, three, zero and one goal.

“The moments that we have, the chances that we have, we would like to be more clinical,” Carnell said. “Big players have to make big plays, and we had a few chances to make big plays and unfortunately those got away from us.”

City SC had 11 shots in the game, but only three of them were on goal. City SC’s expected goals total of 0.8 was its second-lowest of the season, while Cincinnati’s 3.2 was the highest for any City SC opponent this season. In the past two losses, City SC’s opponents have seize limited moments while City SC hasn’t.

“I think we’re busy figuring out when is the moment for me as an individual to take over responsibility,” Carnell said. “When is the decision for me and when does the moment arise, and it starts with supporting runs, it starts with movement off the ball. It starts with decision making on the ball. So to try and find the moments that suit the right fit and what’s needed in the right time. I think there’s a couple things that are staggered or stuttering in that department with guys trying to take on too much responsibility, too little responsibility, too many touches, too few touches. So we’re just trying to find that balance right now.”

The game was the third in eight days for City SC, which always represents a challenge to keep players fresh. City SC made seven changes from the lineup it used in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Los Angeles FC, a loss in which Carnell and his players felt pretty good about how it played.

Tim Parker, Tomas Totland, Chris Durkin, Tomas Ostrak, Rasmus Alm and Indiana Vassilev were all held out of the starting lineup, and Anthony Markanich was out because of a red-card suspension. Kijima and Akil Watts made their first starts of the MLS season (both had started a game in the CONCACAF Champions Cup at the start of the season) and Nikolas Dyhr made just his second start.

Kijima, who had a yellow card, and Dyhr, were subbed out at the half. Watts, meanwhile, was one of the better players on the field for City SC.

City SC has survived heavy rotations like this before. One of its best wins last season came under similar circumstances against San Jose. But Cincinnati is the hottest team in the league, now with six wins in a row and the second-most points in the league, behind only Inter Miami.

“It’s us vs. them,” Kijima said. “There’s no excuse for experiences or playing time this season. It’s a next man up mentality for everybody. So, for me, personally, I think I like to keep that in mind. If the coach gives us a chance, then we should perform to the best of our ability and that’s it.

“I think it was a great experience for me. I had a lot of nerves going into the game, but I think it was a good learning experience as well defending one of the best players in the league. But yeah, overall great experience.”

Cincinnati’s Lucho Acosta, the league’s reigning MVP, had a goal and two assists as he proved to be a difficult challenge. He now has seven goals and nine assists this season, which puts him third in the league in goal contributions. He got the goal in the 26th minute on a penalty kick after he was fouled in the box by Celio Pompeu, and then he assisted on goals by Yuya Kubo in the 49th minute and Sergio Santos in the 80th.

In between came City SC’s lone goal, off the foot of the league’s defensive player of the year last season. The only involvement on the play from a City SC player was Samuel Adeniran pressuring another player on Cincinnati’s backline, inducing Miazga to make his ill-fated back pass.

City SC is at home on Saturday to face Seattle.