The Reds and Cubs were tied for fourth and fifth, each with 34-55 records. The Cubs were rained out, so all the Reds had to do was beat the St. Louis Cardinals, losers in 10 of their last 15 games, to claim a half-game lead over the Cubs.
It was not to be. The Cardinals applied a 7-3 setback on the Reds, a team that had won six of its last seven games.
Reds starter Hunter Greene was not at the zenith of his game, but the Reds trailed by only one run, 4-3, when he left after five innings.
He needed 106 pitches to cover five innings and the Cardinals made him work by fouling off 32 of his pitches.
But the Reds bullpen, much better in recent games, suffered a setback — three runs, three hits and five walks over three innings.
The Reds, down four, threatened in the ninth against Genesis Cabrera when Solano and pinch-hitter Tyler Stephenson opened with singles, knocking Cabrera out of the game.
That forced St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol to bring in closer Ryan Helsley. Before Helsley arrived, Cabrera slammed the ball to the ground and tried to leave the mound, but Marmol grabbed him, spun in a circle, and had some heated words for him.
Nick Senzel singled to left, filling the bases with no outs. And pinch-hitter Max Schrock represented the tying run.
Shrock flied to shallow left, India struck out on 0-2 101 miles per hour fastball and Drury flied to the wall in center, a couple of feet short of the 400-foot sign.
The Reds gave Greene (3-11, 5.78) a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning against St. Louis starter Andre Pallante.
India singled and Drury doubled. After Tommy Pham and Joey Votto struck out, Kyle Farmer pulled a two-run ground ball single to left field.
The lead lasted only until the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the first against Greene.
Tommy Edman blooped a single and Greene walked the next two, Dylan Carlson and Paul Goldschmidt on full counts.
The Cardinals tied it on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan.
St. Louis grabbed a 3-2 lead in second on back-to-back two-out doubles by Edman and Carlson.
The Reds tied it, 3-3, in the third, also with two outs and nobody on. Pham walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Votto’s single to left.
It could have been a bigger inning. Farmer walked and Donovan Solano singled to right. Votto turned third but stopped. When he returned to third, Farmer was there. Farmer tried to retreat to second but was caught, ending the inning.
Before the bottom of the fourth began, Greene asked the umpires to call out the grounds crew to manicure the pitching mound. It took 10 minutes to groom the mound.
Nolan Gorman then stepped into the batter’s box and drilled a long home run into the right field seats, the 23rd home run hit off Greene this season and a 4-3 Cardinals lead.
The Reds bullpen then let it get out of hand with a tidal wave of walks.
Buck Farmer issued two walks and two singles in the sixth, with a single by Corey Dickerson making it 5-3.
Ian Gibaut walked the first two batters in the seventh and both scored. He balked them to third and second and Donovan’s single to left scored them both for a 7-3 St. Louis lead.
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