A confluence of unfortunate events paved the way for another Cardinals loss on a steamy Sunday even though starter Kyle Leahy deserved a much better fate considering how well he pitched again.

Leahy struck out a career-best nine hitters and equaled a mark set by 2005 Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter with a sixth straight start of allowing two runs or fewer, but the lagging Cardinals offense and a short-handed bullpen proved to be the culprits in a 5-3 loss to the Reds in 10 innings on Sunday.

Their bullpen already short a man after keeping sixth starter Hunter Dobbins on the roster, the Cardinals were without two of their top relievers with JoJo Romero on the 15-day Injured List because of an appendicitis and Riley O'Brien unavailable because of an illness. That forced the struggling Matt Svanson into the game and was charged with two hits and three runs (two of them earned) while getting just one out. Left-hander Justin Bruihl entered and struck out JJ Bleday with two runners in scoring position, but Nathaniel Lowe reached him with a looper into left that plated two more runs in the top of the 10th inning.

Svanson, who fell to 2-3 with the loss, saw his ERA balloon to 7.23 after another rocky outing. 

A Cardinals offense that sputtered all day with just seven hits scored once in the 10th on an RBI single by Alec Burleson. However, Jose Fermin flied to left with the tying runs on base to end the game. 

The loss cost the Cardinals another series, and they have dropped series to the Dbacks, Angels and Reds -- plus a makeup game loss to Arizona -- since the break for the MLB All-Star Game. The Reds won two of three after getting swept at Busch Stadium from June 5-7. The two teams split two games in Cincinnati in late May, and they have a five-game series coming up from Aug. 17-20 at Great American Ballpark.

In a stretch of 20 games in 20 days, the Cardinals have no time to rest what with the rival Chicago Cubs coming to Busch Stadium for the final time in 2026. The Cardinals have dominated the series thus far, winning two of three in St. Louis in May and two of three in Chicago in early July. The two teams play the next three nights and then wrap up the series with a day game on Thursday.

Even on a hot and steamy St. Louis day, Leahy barely broke a sweat throughout his six innings of work because of his cool efficiency. Other than falling behind Elly De La Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes and surrendering solo homers – his first allowed this season at Busch Stadium – Leahy otherwise breezed through six innings of work. He allowed just six hits and a walk, while striking out a career-best nine. He racked up at least one strike out in five of the six innings he worked, and his ninth strikeout came after he got Dane Myers looking with a 94.6 mph sinker. His previous career high for strikeouts also came against the Reds on May 23 in Cincinnati.

Leahy, who came into the day with a 0.71 ERA over his past five starts, has yielded just four earned runs in his last 31 innings of work. By allowing two or fewer runs over six straight starts he tied a mark set previously by Carpenter in 2005, his Cy Young award-winning season.

The Cardinals had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 early in the game thanks to some extra-base hits. Burleson led off the second by tying his career high in doubles with 26. He moved to third on a Masyn Winn single and scored on a Jose Fermin sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Ivan Herrera showed more signs of breaking out of the six-week slump that had wrecked his season with a solo homer over the wall in left-center. He pulled his hands in and turned on a 1-2 sweeper from Andrew Abbott and hit it 411 feet for his 12th homer – and his first since July 7.

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