ST. LOUIS — In four encounters against the Cincinnati Reds, Cardinals starter Sonny Gray had not come away as the game’s winning pitcher.

On Thursday at Busch Stadium, Gray spun six innings and made a bid at perfection to finally earn a win against his former club and give the Cardinals a series win after they dropped Tuesday’s opener.

Gray completed six innings, allowed one run and notched nine strikeouts in the Cardinals’ 6-1 win over the Reds. The right-hander retired the first 15 batters he faced to begin his start before he allowed a single against Jake Fraley to open the sixth inning.

The Cardinals (74-72) and Gray were provided a 1-0 lead with two outs in the third inning on a solo home run from Masyn Winn. That lead evaporated in the top of the sixth inning when the Reds scored on a single from Jonathan India, but the Cardinals regained the lead for good in the bottom half of that inning on a sacrifice fly from Lars Nootbaar.

A pinch-hit, two-run home run from Brendan Donovan in the seventh inning, an RBI single from rookie Thomas Saggese in the eighth and a run scored on a fielder’s choice from Winn in the eighth provided additional runs as relievers Andrew Kittredge (1 2/3 innings), JoJo Romero (1 1/3 innings) combined for the final nine outs of Thursday’s game.

Saggese’s RBI single marked his first big league RBI and his second hit in the majors after he singled in the seventh.

Romero’s relief efforts earned him his first save of the season.

Gray starts sharp

Gray began his outing with a 14-pitch first inning that included a pair of swinging strikeouts against Elly De La Cruz and Tyler Stephenson. The sharp first inning was followed by a 13-pitch second inning that included a swinging strikeout of Spencer Steer and an 11-pitch third inning during which Gray struck out Will Benson swinging.

Gray added three more strikeouts to his total in the fourth inning and kept his bid for perfection intact with a clean fifth frame.

Of the seven strikeouts Gray recorded in the first four innings of his start, five came on his sweeper. Heading into his start, Gray’s sweeper had a 57.1% strikeout percentage, making it the second-best strikeout rate of any pitch across the majors except for Reds reliever Fernando Cruz’s splitfinger fastball (63%), per Statcast.

The sweeper was used by Gray for 21 of his 91 pitches. It led to seven whiffs — the most Gray had on any of his six pitches — for a 70% swing-and-miss rate, per Statcast.

Working through traffic

With his perfect game bid broken up to begin the sixth inning, Gray had to navigate through the Reds order and search for his command to limit them to their lone run.

The 34-year-old walked Santiago Espinal on four pitches to put a second runner on base after Fraley’s single. He struck out Amed Rosario, who pinch hit for Benson after Benson left the game with a bruised left middle finger after he was hit on the hand during a bunt attempt during his sixth-inning at-bat.

After India’s single tied the game, Gray loaded the bases on a walk to De La Cruz, setting up Stephenson to step to the plate with one out and the bases load.

A strikeout of Stephenson and a groundout to third base from TJ Friedl got Gray out of the jam and bookended his start.

Regaining lead — and adding to it

Back in a tied ballgame after the Reds scratched across a run in the top of the sixth, it was the top of the Cardinals batting order that found its way on base against reliever Carson Spiers, who replaced starter Jakob Junis to begin the inning.

Winn singled on a bunt attempt on the first pitch of his at-bat to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Alec Burleson advanced Winn to second base on a single to left field, and after Paul Goldschmidt struck out looking, Nolan Arenado reached base on a walk that moved Winn to third base and Burleson to second.

In the first pitch he saw from Spiers, Nootbaar lifted a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to allow Winn to tag up and score from third base.

The scoring threat ended with a flyout from Ivan Herrera.

An inning later, Saggese, who debuted Tuesday, collected his first career base hit on a softly hit line drive that floated into right field for a single. Saggese’s first hit earned him an ovation from the announced crowd of 32,528.

Saggese scored in the next at-bat, when Donovan pinch-hit for Jordan Walker and homered.

Donovan’s homer was the 12th of his season, setting a single-season career high for the 27-year-old.

Winn’s early attack

After flying out to center field in his first at-bat of the series finale, Cardinals leadoff hitter Winn capitalized early in his second at-bat against Junis. Winn pulled a first-pitch slider left over the middle of the strike zone, driving it over the outfield wall in left field for a 399-foot solo home run that broke a scoreless tie.

The solo home run from the Cardinals rookie shortstop was his 13th of the season and the sixth that has come on the first pitch of an at-bat. Winn entered Thursday slugging .401 when swinging at the first pitch.

Before Winn’s homer, the Cardinals had one batter reach base. That came with one out in the second inning on a single from Nootbaar. Nootbaar did not advance past first base that inning as Herrera struck out and Saggese flew out to center field.

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