CINCINNATI — With a chance to leapfrog the Cincinnati Reds in the standings, the St. Louis Cardinals got enough pitching to keep the game within reach but not enough offense to close the gap.

A day after a rare win when their pitchers did not strike out a batter, the Cardinals lineup struck out 15 times, including 10 times from the bottom four spots in the lineup, and came up short in the series finale Sunday at Great American Ball Park. The Reds hit a pair of late solo homers — just as the Cardinals did Saturday — to pull away for a 7-4 victory.

That halted the Reds’ losing streak and kept them from dipping below .500 while also keeping the Cardinals (68-70) from reaching .500.

In his ongoing start-by-start hold on a spot in the rotation, Andre Pallante limited the Reds to six hits through his five innings. He complicated his outing with four walks even as he sidestepped some trouble with six strikeouts. The right-hander allowed five runs, but three of them came after a costly error in the second inning and were unearned.

Austin Hays hit the only homer off Pallante (6-13) and drove in two RBIs, as did his teammate Ke’Bryan Hayes.

Crooks cranks first homer

In his first big league start, catcher Jimmy Crooks momentarily trimmed the game down to a one-run Reds lead with the first hit of his career.

Crooks, a left-handed batter, fell behind 0-2 in the count on two sweeping sliders from lefty reliever Sam Moll. The Cardinals rookie and one of their top catching prospects then ignored two other sweepers and an inside fastball to run the count full. When Moll went to a fourth sweeper against him, Crooks uncoiled.

He drilled the pitch into the right-field seats.

The hit had enough loft that some of his teammates had time to rise from their seats in the dugout, follow the flight of the ball and end up lifting themselves onto the dugout railing to celebrate as Crooks rounded the bases. His solo homer slimmed the lead to 5-4 before the Reds’ late accumulation of runs.

Crooks is the first Cardinals rookie to homer for his first big league hit since outfielder Lane Thomas did so against the Mets in 2019.

Cesar Prieto singled later in the game for his first big league hit in his first big league start.

Replay challenge gets the RBI

What was initially called an out the plate became, upon further review, a tie game.

Cardinals leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar defied the defense for hits in each of his first two at-bats. In the first inning, he lofted a fly-ball that dropped between three Reds fielders near the left-field line. It sounded as if a fan called for the ball as it neared the stands, and no Red assertively went after the popup.

Two innings later, Nootbaar drove a pitch toward the wall in right-center field, and Reds outfielder Noelvi Marte caught the ball — then had it dislodged when he crashed into the wall.

Nootbaar reached third for a triple.

Marte had his chance with his arm to get the out that his glove couldn’t capture. Ivan Herrera drove a ball to right field, and Marte lined up his catch to give him a throwing lane home. Marte caught the ball. Nootbaar tagged. Marte unloaded a throw home — and the ball arrived as Nootbaar did for the sliding bang-bang play. Home plate umpire Steven Jaschinski called Nootbaar out for the double play.

The Cardinals challenged the play, and replay revealed that Nootbaar’s slide got him to the plate before catcher Will Banfield’s tag touched him.

That knotted the score, 3-3.

Nootbaar scored two of those Cardinals runs.

Check swing sets up homer

Immediately before he allowed the home run that shattered a tie, Pallante appeared to get the strikeout that could shift the inning.

On a 2-2 pitch to Reds outfielder and cleanup hitter Hays, Pallante delivered a slider that kissed the dirt near home plate. It was the second breaking ball of the at-bat that Pallante put in the dirt. This time, Hays offered at the slider but snapped the bat back just before his wrists committed it too far. An appeal to the first-base ump by Crooks offered no change to the call, and Hays stayed in with a full count and a seventh pitch coming.

Pallante threw the slider again — and it hung up.

Hays drilled it into the left-field seats for the two-run homer that broke a 3-3 tie and produced the first earned runs of the game against Pallante.

The homer was Hays’ 12th of the season.

Otherwise, runs unearned

The inning that brought the Reds back into the game began with a bobble by a rookie.

In his first major league start, second baseman Prieto charged in on a ground ball that would have been an on-the-run play. He did not pick the hop cleanly, and when he finally did get the ball to his glove and into his hand, he lost the grip on the throw. The hurried play put the first runner on base, and a Reds rally was on.

Pallante added a spark with a walk, and then two singles did the rest of the damage.

Hayes poked a single to right field to score Gavin Lux, who reached on an error. With two outs in the inning and the bases loaded following another walk from Pallante, leadoff hitter TJ Friedl poked a single that brought home two runs to give the Reds their first lead of the game.

All three runs were unearned due to the error.

But because of the walks, not all three were undeserved.

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