This was the finale of a 5-game set between two clubs still fighting for daylight in the standings, with the first 4 meetings split 2-2. Whatever direction the finale went was going to decide who left Cincinnati with the series in hand.
St. Louis jumped out early, plating a run in the 1st and 3 more in the 3rd, and it looked like McGreevy's day. Cincinnati answered with a 5-run 6th to flip the game on its head, and it stayed that way deep into the night before St. Louis put up 6 in the 9th to retake the lead. The Reds weren't done, scratching back for 4 in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough.
Cincinnati's 2 errors didn't help matters in a game decided by 1 run, and a shorthanded bullpen forced both managers into matchups they'd have preferred to avoid on a getaway afternoon. St. Louis walks away having taken the finale and the series, 3-2, while the Reds are left to search for length from a rotation and pen that have been stretched all month.
It was an ugly, entertaining mess of a game between two clubs with nothing but pride on the line at this point in August — the kind of finale that reads better in the box score than it looked in the moment for either bullpen.