ST. LOUIS — After being lifted to a one-run lead in the eighth inning thanks to a solo homer by rookie catcher Leo Bernal, Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien came within one strike away from sealing a Saturday win over the White Sox at Busch Stadium.

The chance, however, was dashed on the second 1-2 pitch O’Brien threw to White Sox slugger and former Cardinal Randal Grichuk.

With a runner on second base, O’Brien saw Grichuk lift a two-run homer to right field to erase the Cardinals’ 5-4 lead and leave them with a 6-5 loss. The blown save was the eighth for O’Brien, who entered Saturday as the National League leader in saves.

O’Brien opened the ninth inning by walking the first batter he faced and then recorded strikeouts against the next two who stepped to the plate to face him. O’Brien worked back from an 0-1 count by getting awkward whiffs of Grichuk on sweepers. He saw him foul a slider down the left-field line before throwing a 95.6 mph sinker off the outer half of the plate.

O’Brien’s sinker was sent 358 feet to right field and just barely cleared the outfield wall for a two-run homer.

The Cardinals (73-76) went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning against lefty Bryan Hudson.

Before O’Brien allowed the game-winning homer, Bernal broke a tie by hitting a solo homer off Grant Taylor to leadoff the eighth inning. The homer by Bernal was the rookie’s third in 11 games as a big leaguer and his first at Busch Stadium after making his home debut Friday night with a three-hit, two-RBI game. The 22-year-old Bernal has driven in 13 RBIs and batted .318 in his first 44 at-bats in the majors.

Bernal’s swing had given the Cardinals a lead back after it was erased by runs the White Sox scored in the fourth and fifth innings.

Following a scoreless three innings in a start by Kyle Leahy, who has been kept to a pitch limit with his workload beyond his career high in the majors, the Cardinals called on rookie left-hander Cooper Hjerpe to piggyback Leahy.

Making his home debut after pitching four perfect innings in his debut behind Leahy in Colorado on Sunday, Hjerpe threw more balls (27) than strikes (25) and retired three of the 11 batters he faced across the fourth and fifth innings. Hjerpe walked four batters, allowed two hits and was charged with four earned runs. The three outs Hjerpe collected were strikeouts.

The four runs wiped away a lead built across the second and fourth innings.

The Cardinals pushed across three runs in the second inning against Luis Castillo, who pitched behind opener Sean Newcomb. Two of the runs scored in the second inning came on a double by Masyn Winn. The third was provided by Jose Fermin, who lifted a sacrifice fly.

They tacked on an additional run in the fourth inning on a double by Nathan Church.

Castillo comes in after opener

While the Cardinals planned to keep Leahy on a pitch limit and use Hjerpe to piggyback behind him, the White Sox deployed the lefty Newcomb as an opener to pitch in front of the right-handed Castillo. Since he was traded from Seattle to Chicago in early August, Castillo had not pitched behind an opener, but he had Newcomb pitch in front of him Saturday amid a scuffling stretch with the White Sox.

Newcomb pitched a scoreless first inning and then allowed a one-out single to Nolan Gorman to set Castillo up to begin his outing against the bottom third of the Cardinals’ lineup. The delayed entrance for Castillo, who allowed 10 runs in his previous 10 2/3 innings, didn’t help him avoid a rugged second frame.

Thomas Saggese welcomed Castillo by dropping a single to right field that allowed Gorman to advance to third base. Winn followed by sending an 0-1 sinker to left field for a double that scored Gorman and Saggese. And after Church singled to right field on a soft-hit line drive, Winn was brought home on a sacrifice fly Fermin lifted to center field to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Troubling inning brews

Following four perfect innings during his debut in Colorado on Sunday, Hjerpe extended the perfect start to his big league career to 13 consecutive batters when he struck out Miguel Vargas looking. The perfect start snapped when Hjerpe allowed Munetaka Murakami to single in the next at-bat, making the White Sox slugger the first batter to reach base against Hjerpe.

Hjerpe struck out pinch hitter Grichuk in the next at-bat but could not find the consistent command needed to provide distance in relief.

Following the strikeout of Grichuk, Hjerpe hit Tristan Peters, walked Chase Meidroth on seven pitches to load the bases, and then walked Colson Montgomery to bring in a run.

The bases-loaded walk drove Hjerpe’s pitch count to 30. It stirred movement in the Cardinals’ bullpen with Braden Montgomery due up and the top of the White Sox order looming.

Hjerpe managed to escape the jam by getting Braden Montgomery to strike out swinging on five pitches.

Command continues to evade Hjerpe

When Hjerpe returned to the mound to pitch the fifth inning, the command issues that plagued his fourth cut his fifth inning short.

The left-hander hit leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci, walked Kyle Teel, and gave up a single to Vargas that loaded the bases for Murakami. Hjerpe got Murakami in an 0-2 count by generating whiffs on two sweepers to start the at-bat but lost the at-bat as the next four pitches he threw missed well out of the strike zone, leading to a walk that brought in a run.

The walk signaled the end of Hjerpe’s outing after recording three outs on 52 pitches, 27 of which missed the strike zone.

The walk, however, did not signal the end of the Cardinals’ troubles.

With Grichuk’s spot in the order due up, the Cardinals called on right-hander Luis Gastelum to try and tiptoe out of trouble with the bases loaded and no outs.

Gastelum coaxed a grounder from Grichuk that resulted in a double play but allowed a run to score that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 4-3.

The slim lead evaporated one batter later.

The Cardinals right-hander saw a 2-1 sinker hit to left-center field for a single by Peters that scored Vargas from third base. Peters attempted to stretch his single into a double by testing the throwing arm of Church. The aggressiveness led to Peters getting thrown out at second base by Church.

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