ST. LOUIS — There would be no dramatic flair, no 10th-inning homer complete with social media-ready bat flip to put the Cubs ahead this time.

There would be only a win for them. One that seemed routine.

For the second time in as many days, the Cardinals and their archrivals took a staring contest into extra innings, and when the Cubs repeated the feat of striking for the first lead in the 10th, this time there would be no reply. A day after rallying for a walk-off win, the Cardinals went down in order Thursday afternoon and lost 4-2 to the Cubs. Helped back into the game earlier by a hesitation by the Cardinals in the field, the Cubs won three of four in the series at Busch Stadium, strengthening their toehold in the wild-card race while loosening the Cardinals’ stance as a seller ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.

Aaron Civale got the final two outs of the 10th for his first save of the season, and the Cardinals did not advance the runner who started extras in scoring position.

Unlike the bombast of late Wednesday night to break a scoreless tie, the Cubs offense was more workmanlike Thursday. A pair of doubles was all they needed to get two runs. A day after Pete Crow-Armstrong crushed a pitch from rookie Luis Gastelum for the extra-inning lead that didn’t last, teammates Alex Bregman and Ian Happ dropped doubles down the right-field line to score two runs. Bregman drove in the extra-innings runner to break the tie, then Bregman scored on Happ’s hit to double the lead.

The two runs were the largest lead by either team since the 10th inning Wednesday.

And once again, both of the extra-inning runs came off Gastelum.

In his six-pitch at-bat, Bregman did not see a change-up, Gastelum’s wickedest pitch, and when Happ did see one, he jumped on it for the RBI double. The use of Gastelum in high-leverage spots on back-to-back days is both a function of a bullpen thinned by JoJo Romero’s absence pushing others into that role and those innings or ineffectiveness from depth relievers. Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt yanked the Cardinals back into the game with his solo homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. Wetherholt’s 16th homer of the season echoed the Cubs’ first lead of the game for a 2-2 tie that would linger into the 10th inning.

Andre Pallante continued his firm start to the second half with 6 1/3 strong innings. He limited the Cubs to two runs on seven hits, and one of the runs scored after he had turned over the seventh inning to the bullpen. Pallante has allowed three or fewer runs in four of his past five starts, and he’s carved his season ERA down from 4.02 to 3.72 in the past 11 days.

A handful of defensive plays kept the Cubs groping for runs.

The first came just before Pallante’s exit. Carson Kelly, the former Cardinals prospect and backup to Yadier Molina in his younger days, twice hit into pivotal defensive plays. In the seventh, he nearly got a ground ball to the left field grass before shortstop Masyn Winn dove to intercept it. With an arm that can generate 100 mph of velocity, Winn got to his feet and from that grass skipped a throw to first for the out. That play came before the Cubs stitched together two walks, a steal and a wild pitch to set up their go-ahead base hit.

In the eighth, Ryne Stanek held the tie game firm when he got a ground ball from Kelly that third baseman Blaze Jordan and Wetherholt spun into an inning-ending double play.

In the ninth, Bryan Torres’ diving catch in left took away what would have been a third hit for lightning-rod talent Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Wetherholt answers Cubs’ rally

With one swing, the Cardinals rookie erased what took the Cubs a laborious series of events to pull off.

Three innings after knotting the game 1-1, the Cubs turned two walks, a stolen base, a wild pitch and then, finally, a base hit into their first lead of the game. No. 9 hitter Dansby Swanson drew a walk on Pallante’s final pitch of his start. With the top of the Cubs order coming around for a fourth look at the right-hander, the Cardinals turned to the bullpen.

With no Romero for the lefty lane because he’s still recovering from an emergency appendectomy, the Cardinals turned to right-hander George Soriano.

What followed put the Cubs’ lead in motion.

Swanson stole second for the Cubs’ second steal of the game. He advanced to third when Soriano walked Seiya Suzuki and Ball 4 was a wild pitch. Soriano did defuse the inning briefly by striking out Crow-Armstrong, the leadoff hitter who already had two doubles in the game. But he was not as successful against the other Cub who gives the Cardinals fits.

Michael Busch, the hitter who seems to make the most of the ballpark that shares his name, doubled to left field to score Swanson for a 2-1 lead.

The lead didn’t last an inning.

Wetherholt matched it with his 16th homer of the season.

Wetherholt jumped a 2-1 pitch from left-handed pitcher Caleb Thielbar. The lefty had entered the game in the seventh with a chance to face three out of four left-handed batters. He got pinch hitter Jose Fermin to fly out to left before leaving a pitch over the plate for Wetherholt to plant in the seats. The game-tying homer traveled an estimated 406 feet.

It was Wetherholt’s third homer since returning from the All-Star break.

He is the only Cardinal with more than one since mid-July.

He who hesitates is tied

The catch was enough to deny the Cubs batter extra bases.

The pause that followed allowed the runner an extra base.

In the fourth inning, the Cubs tied the game on an error despite a strong catch in right field near the wall by Lars Nootbaar. It was his momentary pause after making the catch that allowed Bregman to score from second and level the game, 1-1.

The second batter of the inning against Pallante, Bregman doubled to left field.

The next batter, Happ, launched a pitch to deep right field. Bregman would have scored easily from second if the ball cleared Nootbaar’s glove. It did not. Playing right field to get Jordan Walker a day at designated hitter, Nootbaar raced to his right to meet the fly ball at the warning track and catch the second out of the inning.

He slowed as if it was the third out or he needed to regain his balance to throw.

Either way, that hesitation allowed Bregman to take advantage.

The All-Star had already tagged up from second to reach third, and with the chance to advance on the Cardinals’ misplay, he raced for home. Nootbaar had to scramble to get off a throw, and once the play had settled, he was given an error and Bregman had the run.

Cards walk to run

A pair of walks gave the bottom third of the Cardinals order the first chance to take a lead.

Against Cubs starter Javier Assad in the second inning, Nootbaar and Winn earned back-to-back walks. Nootbaar outlasted Assad through seven pitches, and the right-hander fell behind quickly to Winn before giving him a five-pitch walk. Torres took advantage. The Cardinals left fielder to start the game, Torres sliced a ground ball against the grain, threading it between third baseman Bregman and shortstop Swanson.

Nootbaar got a good jump from second, saw the grounder slip through in front of him and was able to wheel around third to outrun any play for a 1-0 lead.

The RBI was Torres’ fifth since the All-Star break.

Going into the eighth inning Thursday, that was the third-most on the team since the break, and Torres had that many despite only 14 at-bats in the past two weeks.

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