ST. LOUIS — Back at Busch Stadium after completing a ninth-inning comeback before flying home from California, the Cardinals found yet another way to come away with a win in dramatic fashion on Friday night vs. the Royals. This time, the late-night heroics came after some back-and-forth between the cross-state counterparts.

With the game tied 4-4 in the 11th inning after Alec Burleson’s 10th-inning single matched Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI double in the top half of that frame and after Gordon Graceffo escaped the top half of the 11th by stranding runners on first and third base, Yohel Pozo delivered a game-winning, pinch-hit single to right field to seal a 5-4 win over Kansas City.

Pozo's single came on the first pitch he saw from reliever Steven Cruz.

The walk-off win was the sixth for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals reached extra innings after reliever JoJo Romero completed 1 1/3 scoreless innings against some of the Royals’ biggest bats before handing the game off to Riley O’Brien, who threw a scoreless ninth inning. The scoreless inning from Romero and O’Brien came after George Soriano threw 2/3 of an inning in the seventh and starter Dustin May allowed three runs in six innings.

May received three runs of support that came via two homers. One from Jordan Walker that scored two runs in the fourth and tied the game at 2-2, and another from Pedro Pages in the fifth that provided a 3-2 lead before the Royals tied the game with a run of their own in the sixth. The homers from Walker and Pages came against Royals starter and former Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha, who completed six innings.

A high hop and a lead lost

Having worked through a shutdown fifth inning to keep Friday's game tied, May couldn’t replicate the scoreless results in the sixth when the Cardinals had their first lead of the weekend series.

A leadoff walk, two singles, one of which was the result of a misplay by Burleson, and a groundout added up to a run.

May began his sixth and final frame by walking Vinnie Pasquantino. After Salvador Perez was retired in the next at-bat, Carter Jensen singled to right field to put two runners on base. A chopping ground ball from Jac Caglianone that Burleson took his first step in on before backpedaling and leaping to try and collect. However, the grounder bounced off his mitt, leading to a single that loaded the bases with one out.

Working with the bases loaded for the second time versus Kansas City, May got Isaac Collins to pull a grounder down the line that was smothered by Burleson. Burleson tagged first base for an out and then threw to home to try and cut down Pasquantino, but his throw pulled Pages off home plate, allowing Pasquantino to slide in to tie the game at 3.

Taking flight vs. Wacha

The provider of a game-tying home run in the fifth inning on Thursday against the Athletics, Walker slugged the Cardinals back into a tied game during his second at-bat of Friday’s series opener.

His team down 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth and Ivan Herrera on first base, Walker took a slider for a strike and got a piece of Wacha’s fastball to put the Cardinals one strike away from ending the inning with a runner on base.

Wacha attempted to retire Walker with a change-up thrown low and in on the third pitch of their at-bat. Instead, the change-up that appeared to catch the corner of the strike zone caught all of Walker’s bat. The 23-year-old slugger sent Wacha’s off-speed pitch 409 feet to center field for a two-run homer that marked his 13th of the year.

In the next inning, Pages added another run with a lift of his own. And like Walker, Pages found himself one strike away from ending his at-bat with a strikeout.

Pages took a sinker and fouled off another sinker to fall into an 0-2 count against Wacha. A slider he took off the plate earned him a fourth pitch that he jumped all over.

On a 92.7-mph fastball Wacha left near the middle of the strike zone, Pages lifted a fly ball 419 feet to center field for a solo homer. The homer was his fourth of the season and provided a one-run lead that evaporated in the next inning.

Finding trouble in the fourth

May's hitless start came to an end in the fourth when Perez doubled off the wall in right field with one out. And with the bid broken up came some trouble against the middle of the Royals’ lineup.

A double from Perez that came after a one-out walk from Pasquantino was followed by a double to left-center field that was out of reach of Victor Scott II and a sacrifice flyout from Collins.

In two of the three at-bats that ended with hits, May worked the count to two strikes.

Against Perez, May had the former All-Star catcher in an 0-2 count two pitches in. He tried to put Perez away with a sweeper that broke out of the strike zone and got Perez to chase. But the contact from Perez led to a double off the wall in right field that put a runner on the corners.

Following Jensen’s RBI double on an 0-1 curveball and a five-pitch walk to Jac Caglianone that loaded the bases, May worked back from a 2-0 count by getting back-to-back swings and misses on cutters. He fired a 96.2-mph fastball taken for a ball that appeared to just miss the low, inside corner of the strike zone to the switch-hitting Collins.

May reared back for another fastball with the count full and saw the 97.2-mph heater get hit to right field for a fly ball deep enough to allow Perez to tag up and score from third base.

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