ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — The St. Louis Cardinals avoided a three-game sweep at Busch Stadium III on Sunday afternoon, edging the Miami Marlins 2-1 behind a two-run home run from Bryan Torres and a solid start from Kyle Leahy.

Torres connected for his third home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning, driving in Masyn Winn to give St. Louis a lead it never relinquished. Leahy worked five innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out five to improve to 6-4. Riley O’Brien pitched the ninth for his 20th save of the season.

The win moved St. Louis to 43-38, while Miami fell to 44-40. Attendance was 37,779 with a game time of 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Miami took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth when Owen Caissie led off with a double and scored on a ground-rule double by Graham Pauley. But Leahy limited the damage, stranding Pauley at third base after a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout.

The Cardinals answered in the bottom of the second. Winn singled to left field with one out, and Torres followed by driving a 1-1 pitch from Miami starter Tyler Phillips over the right-field wall. Torres finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Phillips, who took the loss to fall to 1-3, allowed two runs on five hits over five innings.

St. Louis received contributions from several players but struggled to add insurance. JJ Wetherholt went 2-for-4, the only Cardinals batter with multiple hits. Nathan Church and Pedro Pagés each singled in the eighth, but Church was left at third base when Wetherholt struck out to end the inning.

Miami had its chances, particularly in the sixth when Xavier Edwards singled with one out but was stranded. The Marlins put two runners on in the seventh on a single by Leo Jiménez, but a double play ended the threat. Miami loaded the bases only once — in the first inning on two walks and a force out — but Heriberto Hernández flied out to end that frame.

The Marlins managed just four hits against four St. Louis pitchers. Leahy worked efficiently through five innings, throwing 58 pitches, and turned the game over to JoJo Romero, who allowed one hit in 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Ryne Stanek recorded two outs in the seventh, and O’Brien closed with a perfect ninth, striking out two.

For St. Louis, Alec Burleson went 0-for-3, Lars Nootbaar 0-for-3, and Blaze Jordan 0-for-3. Masyn Winn singled in the second, and Church singled in the eighth.

For Miami, Caissie, Pauley, Edwards and Jiménez each had one hit. Pauley’s double was his eighth of the season.

St. Louis snapped a two-game losing streak to Miami after dropping the first two games of the series by scores of 5-1 and 4-0. The Cardinals had lost four of their previous five games entering Sunday. Miami had won seven of its previous eight games before the loss.

Miami will next travel to Colorado for a four-game series beginning Monday. St. Louis will visit Atlanta for a three-game set starting Tuesday.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a 6-4 victory for Miami, while Interstat’s ELO system gave St. Louis a 52.00 percent chance to win. St. Louis was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of three went over the over-under line of 9.5.