PHILADELPHIA — The St. Louis Cardinals had the relievers available they wanted and the matchups they wanted to engineer.

All they needed was to take a lead for a third time.

Masyn Winn provided it.

The Cardinals shortstop lifted a solo home run in the seventh inning to give them their third lead of the game and the one that the bullpen would cement for a ninth consecutive victory. Winn’s fourth homer of the season was the difference on the scoreboard in a seesaw 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. The difference on the field was the Cardinals' bullpen.

In their first chance since the beginning sparks of this winning streak to test themselves against a bona fide contender and winning club, the Cardinals got home runs from Winn and Ivan Herrera and three bulldog outings from relievers. Kyle Leahy pitched out of a jam in the sixth. JoJo Romero pitched out of a jam in the eighth, and Ryan Helsley buzzsawed through a team that is likely to be shopping for a closer in January with a scoreless ninth. He struck out two before a catch in right field secured his eighth save.

The winning streak is the Cardinals' longest since they won 17 consecutive in 2021.

What Leahy did to pry starter Matthew Liberatore out of a jam in the middle of the game, Romero did for Leahy in the eighth inning.

Leahy (1-0) entered in the sixth to get two outs with two runners on base and freeze a tie game. In the eighth, Romero replaced Leahy with two on and two outs and a one-run lead to hold. A series of events Sunday that included a snazzy double play turned by Brendan Donovan meant Romero did not have to pitch against the Nationals and would be available for at least two games in this series, if needed against the Phillies’ lefties. Leahy entering the game in the sixth meant the Phillies unloaded their bench with left-handed pinch hitters.

That meant they were still there with no alternative for lefty Romero in the eighth.

A former Phillies reliever whom the Cardinals got via trade, Romero got a flyout to end the eighth inning and send a one-run game into the ninth.

The Cardinals powered their way to a lead against a pitcher who vexed them earlier this season. Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez dazzled the Cardinals with his power sinker and, despite allowing eight hits in his start at Busch Stadium on April 12, kept the Cardinals grounded by coaxing five double plays. The approach with him was more assertive, and the game partially turned on a ball Herrera got in the air.

Leahy keeps Libby’s start intact

What began as a classic fireman call to douse an inning for the starter became something much more for reliever Leahy.

The right-hander entered the sixth inning with two on, one out and a tie game to maintain. Leahy did not leave the game until the eighth inning. The extended assignment for the right-hander included a run through the Phillies best left-handed batters: former MVP Bryce Harper and slugger Kyle Schwarber. Leahy caught Harper staring at a 89.7 mph slider for a called strike three that ended the seventh inning. Leahy then began the eighth inning by coaxing routine grounder from Schwarber.

But to get there, he had to first get Liberatore out of the sixth.

The Phillies greeted Leahy with two pinch hitters, both of them from the left side of the plate and one of them with a singalong walk-up song that most of the 42,513 tickets-sold crowd joined in as chorus. Bryson Stott then promptly tagged a ball to deep center that was caught. Willson Contreras dove to smother a grounder for an out that held the Phillies scoreless, stranding the two runners Liberatore left for Leahy.

Liberatore matched Sanchez inning for inning and nearly swing and miss for swing and miss. The Cardinals lefty struck out four and allowed two runs on seven hits through 5 1/3 innings. It was Liberatore’s first start of fewer than six innings this season that did not include a weather delay.

Leahy pitched 2 1/3 innings and struck out two.

It was a scoreless 2 1/3 with help from Romero.

Early gamble pays off

Unable to generate much sustained offense at the plate against Sanchez, Nolan Arenado attempted to do what he could on the bases to conjure a run.

Arenado walked to lead off the fourth inning, and when Contreras drove a flyout to right-center field, Arenado retreated to first with intent to tag up. Tag up he did. Arenado tried to use the distance of the flyout to get into scoring position. Arenado was initially ruled out on the play, but the Cardinals challenged — and won. On his headfirst slide, Arenado’s left hand reached the base before the tag touched him.

That proved vital to the Cardinals’ first run.

Arenado advanced on a wild pitch, and he scored only when the Phillies failed to turn what could have been an inning-ending double play. Former Cardinal infielder Edmundo Sosa had the pivot at second base, and his throw went wide and high of first base. An out at first would've meant Arenado’s run doesn’t count. The throw clanging off the Phillies dugout railing meant the Cardinals had turned a tag up, a wild pitch and a groundout into a 1-0 lead.

Fittingly, the same actors would be involved in the play that gave it back.

Baseball balances scales for Sosa

In the bottom of the same inning, J.T. Realmuto pulled a double into left field that got a runner into scoring position for the second consecutive inning vs. Liberatore.

Brendan Donovan kept Realmuto from scoring when he was able to glove a grounder and shovel pass it to Contreras at first for the out.

Realmuto advanced only to third.

That brought Sosa to the plate with an immediate chance to reset the game after his errant throw. He pulled a hard ground-ball down the third base line. Arenado was unable to backhand the ball cleanly, and as a result, Realmuto scored to knot the game, 1-1.

A seesaw takes shape

After trading runs in the fourth inning, the Cardinals and Phillies had an encore in the sixth.

The Cardinals took the direct route with Herrera’s solo homer to snap the tie and give him his fifth homer of the season and first since returning from a month on the injured list. Herrera did what few of the Cardinals could in their first meeting against Sanchez: get the young left-handed and his supercharged sinker in the air. Sanchez challenged Herrera with a 1-1 sinker at 96.4 mph on the outer edge of the zone. Herrera lashed it the opposite way and into the right-center seats for the lead.

It lasted as long the previous one.

A leadoff single from Schwarber put the Phillies’ tying rally in motion, and a ball that dropped in front of the center fielder greased it. The Cardinals did not start Victor Scott II in center to give him a half-day — he entered for defensive purposes in the seventh — and also keep Jose Barrero from rusting on the bench. Barrero’s break on Nick Castellanos’ flare to center gave it space to fall for a hit and Schwarber to race for third.

Schwarber scored on a groundout to again level the game, this time 2-2.

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