CINCINNATI (Interstat) — Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run homer and Nathaniel Lowe added a two-run shot in a five-run fifth inning, and the Cincinnati Reds outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 in 11 innings Saturday in the second game of a day-night doubleheader at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds squandered a late lead but pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the 11th to earn a split of the twinbill after losing the opener 8-1. Pierce Johnson got the win, improving to 2-1, while Riley O’Brien took the loss, falling to 3-2. Attendance was 31,144, and the game lasted 3 hours, 25 minutes.

St. Louis struck first in the second inning. Jordan Walker drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a single by Nolan Gorman and scored on Masyn Winn’s sacrifice fly. The Cardinals added a single from Bryan Torres but left two runners stranded.

Cincinnati’s offense erupted in the fifth against Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy. P.J. Higgins singled, and TJ Friedl sacrificed him to second. Blake Dunn singled to put runners at the corners. De La Cruz then launched his 12th homer of the season to left-center, scoring Higgins, Dunn and himself to give the Reds a 3-1 lead. After a strikeout, Lowe crushed his eighth homer to center, scoring Sal Stewart, who had walked, and extending the lead to 5-1.

The Cardinals answered in the sixth. Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch, and Alec Burleson doubled. Walker then drove a 15th homer to center, a three-run shot that cut the deficit to 5-4. The inning ended with the bases empty.

Cincinnati tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Spencer Steer doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice by Higgins and scored on a double by Dane Myers, making it 6-4. But the Reds could not add more, and the score remained 6-4 into the late innings.

St. Louis rallied again in the ninth. Pinch-hitter José Fermín led off with his second homer of the season to left-center, trimming the lead to 6-5. Victor Scott II walked, advanced on a groundout and a walk to Burleson, then scored on Walker’s single to left, tying the game at 6. Walker was stranded, and the game moved to extra innings.

Both teams had chances in the 10th. St. Louis put a runner on third with one out but Torres grounded into a fielder’s choice that cut down the runner at home. The Cardinals challenged the tag play, but the call was upheld. In the bottom half, the Reds intentionally walked Stewart with one out, but reliever O’Brien escaped the jam by inducing a groundout and a strikeout.

In the 11th, Scott II struck out to start the inning, and the Cardinals could not advance a runner. Cincinnati then pushed across the winning run in the bottom half, though the play-by-play did not specify the exact sequence. The victory improved the Reds to 27-25, while the Cardinals dropped to 29-22.

Jordan Walker led St. Louis with three hits, including the homer and four RBIs. Fermín delivered the crucial pinch-hit homer. For Cincinnati, De La Cruz and Lowe combined for five RBIs, and the Reds’ bullpen kept the Cardinals scoreless after the ninth.

The Cardinals had won the opener earlier in the day, but the Reds’ five-run fifth and eventual walk-off in the nightcap gave them a measure of revenge in front of a crowd of more than 31,000.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 5. Interstat’s ELO system projected Cincinnati with a 51.30 percent probability to win. Cincinnati had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The combined total of 12 runs went under the over-under line of 9.5.