ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Nathaniel Lowe delivered a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied past the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium III, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process.

The Reds, who entered the day 49-55, had dropped the series opener 7-0 on Saturday and were facing a Cardinals team that had won 53 of its first 105 games. St. Louis trailed Cincinnati by one game in the wild-card race but had been installed as the pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of eight went over the over-under line of 8.5. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 3, while Interstat’s ELO system gave St. Louis a 54.90 percent probability to win.

Cincinnati tied the game on a solo home run by Ke’Bryan Hayes in the fifth inning, his third of the season, and the score remained 2-2 through nine after each side traded early runs. The Reds grabbed the lead in the top of the 10th when pinch-hitter Sal Stewart singled to right field, scoring Tyler Stephenson, who had started the inning as the automatic runner on second base. Elly De La Cruz followed with a single, and after a sacrifice bunt by Edwin Arroyo moved both runners into scoring position, Lowe laced a fly ball to left field that scored Stewart and De La Cruz to make it 5-2.

St. Louis answered in the bottom of the 10th with one run on singles by Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson, but Julian Garcia, who entered with no saves this season, recorded his first save by retiring Masyn Winn on strikes and then getting Jose Fermin to fly out.

Brock Burke, a left-handed reliever, earned the victory to improve to 4-3. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two. Matt Svanson took the loss for St. Louis, falling to 2-3, after allowing three runs on four hits in the 10th. Pierce Johnson tossed a scoreless eighth inning for Cincinnati, and Tejay Antone worked 0.2 innings of two-hit relief in the seventh.

Cincinnati opened the scoring in the third when De La Cruz hit his 18th homer of the season to left-center field, tying the game at 1. The Cardinals had taken a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by Fermin that scored Alec Burleson, who had doubled. St. Louis regained the lead in the third on a solo homer by Ivan Herrera, his 12th.

The Reds tied it again in the fifth on Hayes’ 3rd homer of the year to left field. From that point, both bullpens kept the game deadlocked through six more half-innings, with each side mounting threats but failing to score. St. Louis had a chance in the eighth when Burleson and Winn singled and Fermin reached on catcher’s interference, but Lars Nootbaar flied out to end the inning.

Cincinnati’s offense generated 10 hits, including three from Lowe, who finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs. De La Cruz went 2-for-5 with a homer and an RBI. Noelvi Marte added two hits and Stewart, pinch-hitting, delivered the go-ahead single in his only at-bat. The Reds struck out 13 times but walked three times, including an intentional walk to Eugenio Suarez in the 10th.

St. Louis managed seven hits, with Burleson collecting two and Herrera adding two. The Cardinals left seven runners on base and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Their only extra-base hit was Burleson’s double.

The win gave Cincinnati a series victory after the two teams split the first two games of the four-game set. The Reds had lost three of their previous four games overall, while the Cardinals had won three of their previous four before Sunday. Cincinnati improved to 49-55, St. Louis fell to 53-52.

Cincinnati will return home for a 10-game homestand beginning Monday against the Cleveland Guardians. St. Louis will host the Chicago Cubs for a four-game series starting Monday. The Cardinals are now a half-game under .500 and trail the final wild-card spot by three games in the National League.

The game drew an announced crowd of 22,852 and lasted 3 hours, 3 minutes under cloudy skies. Temperatures were in the low 80s at first pitch.