ST. LOUIS — Everyone in the ballpark, from the Cincinnati Reds infielders to the “Tarps Off” crowd in the bleachers to any of the other 31,335 still in attendance, knew Victor Scott II was going to bunt.

Only one person, however, had to actually make the play.

Consecutive singles to open the eighth inning against Reds lefty Sam Moll put the tie game in jeopardy, and when Moll rushed the play on Scott’s bunt, the whole thing came unraveled on Cincinnati. Moll’s throw to third in an attempt to get the lead runner went wild, and Jose Fermin strolled home to break the tie.

The St. Louis Cardinals capitalized on two errors to take a 5-3 lead that closer Riley O’Brien secured Sunday to complete a sweep of Cincinnati at Busch Stadium.

O’Brien pitched around a double to cinch his 17th save of the season — his second of the series sweep — and preserve the runs from the opportunistic rally in the eighth.

To cap his first career appearance at shortstop in the majors, Fermin opened the eighth with a single. Pinch hitter Nelson Velazquez echoed to prime the bases for No. 9 hitter Scott and the inevitable bunt. Scott showed bunt on the first pitch before pulling back. He pushed the next pitch he saw in the direction of third base — where Moll met it, then flung the ball into foul territory.

The Cardinals had loaded the bases when Ivan Herrera stung a grounder to shortstop Matt McLain. The Reds infielder who had two homers in the game added an error to his afternoon that allowed the Cardinals to score an insurance run.

Michael McGreevy authored his eighth quality start of the season by holding the Reds to two solo homers in his six innings. The right-hander left the game with the lead before it slipped away from the Cardinals bullpen and threatened to make earlier offensive follies loom larger.

Stymied by the Reds despite a multitude of runners on base, the Cardinals broke through in the fifth inning against a pitcher who is likely tired of seeing them already.

Despite already being on his second team of this summer, Chris Paddack has faced the Cardinals three times already, and his ERA has the bruises to prove it. Paddack lost to the Cardinals in a start for the Miami Marlins and then later in a start for the Reds, and in those appearances, he allowed a combined eight runs in 9 2/3 innings. Used in relief Sunday, Paddack entered and promptly started giving up runs.

The Cardinals tagged him for three extra-base hits, including Bryan Torres' two-run homer to flip a game they had earlier trailed by two runs.

A Red rallied against George Soriano to tie the score.

Against the Cardinals’ right-handed setup reliever, McLain homered for the second time in the game and third time in the weekend series to knot the score. McLain’s seventh homer of the season was the game’s first run, and his eighth homer of the season leveled the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh.

It would stay that way until Moll’s throw to third sailed away.

The Cardinals’ third series sweep of the season was their first at home against the Reds since April 2021. None of the players who appeared in the final game of that series are still with the team.

Missed chances start to mount

Every inning before the Cardinals found ways to get one home, they left a runner on base.

Reds starter Rhett Lowder returned from the injured list Sunday morning after missing several weeks due to a sore right shoulder. How deep into the game Cincinnati would ask him to pitch was something of a question as the afternoon arrived, and that was before the walks began to accumulate. Lowder gifted the Cardinals at least two base runners in each of his first three innings.

In the first, he hit a batter and walked a batter.

In the second, he walked back-to-back batters.

In the third, he sandwiched two strikeouts between walks.

By the time he turned the mound over to the bullpen, Lowder had walked five and spent most of his 70 pitches playing in traffic. Yet the right-hander’s freebies also seemed to neutralize the Cardinals’ ability to get hits. Not one of those batters walked nor the batter hit by a pitch came around and scored.

Through three innings, the Cardinals stranded seven base runners, and an eighth would be marooned on base in the fourth inning.

Four of those eight were in scoring position.

They were the kind of opportunities that end up costing a team.

Until, that is, they overcome them.

New-look lineup surges into lead

Although he technically wasn’t involved the act of producing a go-ahead rally in the fifth inning, Lars Nootbaar’s presence was felt during it.

Back from the injured list and in the leadoff spot on Friday, Nootbaar came off the bench to hit the go-ahead homer in Saturday’s game, and on Sunday, the Cardinals got to see a little bit of what they expect their lineup to usually look like with Nootbaar now in it.

Wetherholt returned from a few days of rest to the leadoff spot, and that freed Nootbaar to hit lower in the lineup. A threat behind Jordan Walker has become increasingly important for the Cardinals, and Nootbaar could provide that while also lengthening the lineup overall.

He hit fifth Sunday.

The runs came all around him in the fifth Sunday.

Alec Burleson and Walker swapped doubles. Burleson led off the inning with a double and then scored on Walker’s double. That gave Walker 47 RBIs for the season, and he remains on pace to become one of the rare right-handed hitters with 100 RBIs for the Cardinals in the past decade-plus. Nootbaar struck out with Walker at second base, and the inning found the batter who has been thrust into middle-order spots at times since his arrival in the majors.

Torres hit sixth Sunday, and that’s been the start of a valley for the Cardinals in their lineup — a stretch of batters parched for production that includes two of the least productive lineup spots in the majors. Torres’ ability to make contact and get on base is a fit for the back half of the lineup, and it was when he did much more than either of those things that they got the lead.

Torres made his major league debut this past month at Cincinnati, and he homered against the Reds in that first game.

His second homer since coming to the majors was also against the Reds, and it vaulted the Cardinals into the one-run lead. After four innings of leaving runners behind on the bases, Torres cleared the bases with a two-run shot over the right field wall for a 3-2 lead.

The homer and the lead came in time to give McGreevy support and the bullpen a lead.

Multitasking McGreevy’s quality work

McGreevy sped through the first inning by getting meek contact and an out on all three of the swings the Reds took. The right-hander got his first swings and misses of the game in the second inning as he struck out the final two batters he faced.

What the game demanded from him would expand from there.

The Reds greeted McGreevy with back-to-back solo homers to start the third inning. Both of those Reds batters saw seven pitches from the Cardinals starter and fouled off several before getting the pitches they planted over the wall. McLain’s first home run came on a 2-2 pitch that he hit 411 feet. Tyler Stephenson followed seven pitches later by lifting a 1-1 sinker over the right field wall for the 2-0 lead.

Another base hit followed before McGreevy retired the top of the lineup in order.

He got a couple of ground outs there to help finish the third inning and then spent his final three innings showing the different ways he could hang zeroes. In the fourth, he struck out three consecutive batters with a runner on base to unplug the Reds threat. Facing McLain for a second time, McGreevy again got into a deep count. On the 3-2 pitch, he elevated a 92 mph fastball that McLain swung under to end the inning.

In the fifth, McGreevy was back to spinning grounders into outs.

He even got involved.

To end the fifth inning, McGreevy bounded off the mound to his right to scoop a soft, lollygagging bunt grounder. Showing the kind of fielding that once made him dream of being a shortstop before pitching got a grip on him in college, McGreevy spun and threw to first for the out.

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