ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Rob Refsnyder’s pinch-hit home run in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium III, completing a three-game sweep.

Refsnyder, batting for Mitch Garver, drove a 1-1 pitch from Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero over the left-center field wall for his second homer of the season. The blast gave Seattle a 3-2 lead and proved decisive as Mariners closer Jose A. Ferrer retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn his first save.

The Mariners improved to 14-15 with the win, while the Cardinals fell to 14-13. Seattle took the series opener 3-2 on Friday and won 11-9 on Saturday before Sunday’s tight contest.

Seattle starter Emerson Hancock turned in a quality start, allowing two runs on seven hits and striking out four over six innings. The right-hander, who had struggled in his previous two outings — a loss to on April 20 and a no-decision at San Diego on April 15 — kept the Cardinals off balance for much of the afternoon. He surrendered solo home runs to JJ Wetherholt in the third inning and Nathan Church in the sixth but otherwise limited damage.

The Mariners tied the game in the fourth when Cal Raleigh led off the inning with a homer to right-center, his sixth of the season, off Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy. McGreevy matched Hancock’s six-inning outing, allowing one earned run on five hits while striking out six. He retired the first two batters of the fourth before Raleigh’s blast.

Seattle took the lead in the seventh against the St. Louis bullpen. With one out, Connor Joe doubled to left off Romero, and Cole Young followed with a single to right that scored Joe, putting Seattle ahead 2-1. The Cardinals answered in the bottom of the sixth when Church led off with a solo homer to right off Hancock, tying the game at 2-2.

Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo earned the win, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings and striking out one. Gabe Speier recorded two outs in the seventh, and Ferrer closed with a perfect ninth, striking out none but inducing routine outs.

Church led the Cardinals offensively, going 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI. Wetherholt also homered, finishing 1 for 5. Jordan Walker drew two walks and singled, while Ivan Herrera doubled and walked. St. Louis finished with seven hits but left six runners on base and struck out eight times.

Seattle also got a key hit from Refsnyder, who entered as a pinch-hitter with one out in the ninth and delivered the game-winner. Raleigh homered and walked, and Young drove in the go-ahead run. The Mariners managed eight hits total but made the most of their opportunities.

Defensively, both teams turned double plays. St. Louis stranded a runner in scoring position in the second when Victor Scott II grounded into a double play. Seattle’s Cole Young and J.P. Crawford turned a key double play in the bottom of the seventh to end a potential Cardinals rally.

The game lasted 2 hours, 36 minutes before a crowd of 30,780.

Seattle now travels to Minnesota for a three-game series starting Monday, while St. Louis heads to Pittsburgh for a four-game set.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis 5, Seattle 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Seattle a 55.20 percent probability to win. The Mariners had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total combined score of five runs went under the over-under line of eight.