ST. LOUIS — When the Cardinals audit what went awry with their 2024 season and look beyond a chronic lack of offense to moments or opponents that were jarring potholes, one division rival will stand out for a mix of both.

The Reds’ ability to vex the Cardinals is not limited to Cincinnati.

Nor did it end with the bases loaded in the ninth inning Tuesday.

On a night the Cardinals welcomed infielder Brendan Donovan back to the leadoff spot and prospect Thomas Saggese up to the majors, the lineup mustered nothing as a welcome gift. Led by rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder, Cincinnati held the Cardinals scoreless in a 3-0 victory Tuesday at Busch Stadium. The Reds have won four consecutive against the Cardinals, six of the teams’ past eight meetings, and are the chief culprits in knocking down the Cardinals rung by rung out of the running for a wild-card berth.

The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning and then Reds reliever Emilio Pagan completed his first save of the season by striking out three consecutive Cardinals. The Cardinals had five at-bats in the game with runners in scoring position — three of them with a chance to tie the game in the ninth — and they struck out all five times.

Pagan blitzed through Jordan Walker, Saggese and pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter in the ninth to strand three runners and keep the shutout intact.

The Reds took the gifts of a wild pitch, a few walks, a balk and a stolen base and spun then tidily into a three-run rally against Cardinals starter Andre Pallante that produced all of the runs necessary.

Donovan had three hits in his first three at-bats of the evening, and Paul Goldschmidt had two hits on his 37th birthday. His double in the first inning did not produce much of a threat against Lowder, just as his ninth-inning single never got the Cardinals far enough to bring the tying run to the plate. Through eight innings the Cardinals had three at-bats with runners in scoring position and all three at-bats ended with a strikeout.

Home plate umpire Larry Vanover irritated both teams with his strike zone, which the teams felt roamed enough that Reds manager David Bell was ejected for expressing his concerns about its whereabouts.

While mathematically alive in the playoff race, the Cardinals’ realistic chances took their first hit back in Cincinnati a month ago. The Cardinals arrived in Cincinnati fresh off a rigorous stretch against play-off caliber teams, and yet they were only 1 1/2 games out of a berth. The Reds promptly, emphatically swept them. The Reds outscored the Cardinals 19-4 in the series and dropped them back below .500, and they’ve been orbiting ever since.

Balk, walk & wild: Reds off to the races

Not that the Cincinnati Reds with their speed game needed any grease on the basepaths from the Cardinals, but they got it all the same in the fifth inning and raced away with three runs.

A walk to lead off the inning and De La Cruz’s single — for his third time on base in five innings — put two runners on base. A wild pitch then did what they were going to attempt anyway. In each of his previous two times on base, De La Cruz attempted to steal second. In the first, De La Cruz walked and then stole second and third for his 63rd and 64th stolen bases of the season, respectively. A pitchout in the third inning caught him trying to steal second. Back at first with a teammate at second in the fifth, De La Cruz nestled back into the starting blocks.

And a wild pitch took care of it for him.

In the span of three batters, Pallante threw a wild pitch to put two Reds in scoring position, allowed a single that scored both of those Reds, and then balked the batter into scoring position. Cleanup hitter TJ Friedl skipped a ground-ball single past diving prospect Thomas Saggese for the two-run single that produced the game’s first runs. Friedl took second on Pallante’s walk — and then took a striding lead and stole third.

That put him in position to score on a ground ball back to the mound, but the Reds weren’t done showing off their team speed.

Spencer Steer who drew second walk of the inning, went first to third on the ground ball back to Pallante to at least give his teammates a chance to add onto their 3-0 lead.

Through five innings, the Reds had advanced a base on three steals, one balk, a wild pitch and gone first to third twice, including once on a ground ball that did not get past the mound. All of that action netted a only a three-run lead, but it offered a go-go contrast to the sedentary Cardinals’ offense that had yet to produce a run through five.

Getting started for 2025

Three starts into his big league career, Reds right-hander Lowder lulled the Cardinals lineup to a string of zeroes by avoiding what complicated Pallante’s start.

It’s the walks.

They tend to come before runs.

Both right-handers are effectively using this month as their early audition to be part of their team’s rotation plans for 2025, and Pallante has had quite a tailwind going into these final weeks as one of the best starters the Cardinals have had. In his first seven starts after the All-Star break, Pallante had a 3.29 ERA and allowed 35 hits in 41 innings against 27 strikeouts and a .224 average against. The strong stretch has caught a snag with back-to-back five-walk outings. At Milwaukee this past week, Pallante walked five and allowed five runs to go with the five hits the Brewers had.

On Tuesday night, Pallante walked five Reds in his five innings, including De La Cruz twice. Only one of the five Reds Pallante walked scored, but four of the five reached third base. Two of the five were part of the three-run rally in the fifth that hastened Pallante’s exit.

In those same five innings, Lowder did not walk a Cardinal.

The seventh-overall pick out of Wake Forest in the 2023 draft, Lowder is the latest of the Reds’ rising pitching prospects to arrive and join in the trend of confounding the Cardinals. Hunter Greene has had a breakout season. Andrew Abbott has done well in his encore. Both are 25 or younger, and Lowder reaches the majors at age 22. He introduced himself to the Cardinals with five scoreless innings. He struck out three. The one time Cardinals got a runner into scoring position against Lowder, the Reds prospect struck out a batter.

Deadline deal on display

While not much was happening for the Cardinals on the scoreboard, they did get a chance to utilize some of the players acquired in the same deadline deal from a year ago.

As they surrendered to the standings in July 2023, the Cardinals dealt lefty Jordan Montgomery to Texas for a package of players that included Saggese, prospect pitcher Tekoah Roby, and reliever John King. On the same day Saggese made his major league debut, Roby came off the injured list to rejoin Class AA Springfield and King brought calmness to the game for the major league St. Louis.

King entered in the sixth inning Tuesday with two runners on base.

He promptly got two outs to end the inning and strand those runners without the Reds adding to their three-run lead. King kept spinning through the Cincinnati lineup with three groundouts for a perfect seventh inning and then a strikeout to start the eighth. That bought the offense three innings to perk up and produce.

The Cardinals got two runners on base.

The Reds then retired eight consecutive and King was out of the game.

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