Aided by a dropped ball with two outs in the ninth inning, the Cardinals rallied past the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. St. ​Louis will look to continue its winning ways on Friday when it opens a three-game road series against the ‌Philadelphia Phillies.

Rookie JJ Wetherholt's ninth-inning fly ball to deep left-center field was misplayed by Cincinnati's Dane Myers, allowing Jose Fermin and Masyn Winn to score and give St. Louis a 6-5 lead on Thursday afternoon. The Cardinals tacked on four more runs and escaped with a 10-9 victory over the Reds.

St. Louis ​manager Oliver Marmol was happy with the resiliency displayed by his team as it bounced back from squandering an early ​four-run lead.

"I'm going to shower. I'm going to have an adult beverage, and I'm going to get ⁠on the plane and not think about that one," Marmol said. "Because there's ... you can't. There's so many things that put us in ​a position to win. There's so many things that allowed us to almost give it away."

St. Louis right fielder Jordan Walker extended his ​hitting streak to six games on Thursday after homering in his second consecutive contest. He is 11-for-25 (.440) with three home runs and 10 RBIs during the streak.

The Cardinals won three of the five games in the series at Cincinnati, improving to 12-6 over their past 18 games. They reside 2 1/2 games ​behind the San Diego Padres in the race for the third and final National League wild-card spot.

Included in the run of five ​straight series wins for St. Louis was a three-game set against Philadelphia. The Cardinals dropped a 6-5 decision in the opener on Aug. 8 before ‌outscoring the ⁠Phillies by a 9-1 margin over the final two games.

Philadelphia has turned it around since that set, winning a season-high six games in a row to move a campaign-best 12 games over .500.

"It was big for us," outfielder Brandon Marsh said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, after the Phillies' 4-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. "Just not been the second half that we've really wanted, but we're still ​in it, and love where we're ​at."

The Phillies sit five games ⁠behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves. They also hold down the second wild-card spot.

Luis Arraez belted a two-run homer off his former Miami teammate Sandy Alcantara in the third inning on Wednesday. The ​homer was the sixth of the season for Arraez and his second since being acquired from the ​San Francisco Giants ⁠on Aug. 3.

The homer drove in Bryce Harper, who, one batter earlier, extended his on-base streak to 23 games with a walk.

Philadelphia left-hander Jesus Luzardo (11-5, 3.23 ERA) will get the start on Friday.

Luzardo, who did not pitch against St. Louis in the Aug. 10-12 series, improved to 8-1 ⁠in his ​past 15 starts after shutting down the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. He struck ​out nine batters in 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, increasing his total to 28 strikeouts over his past three starts (21 2/3 innings).

Luzardo, 28, is 2-1 with a ​2.95 ERA in four career appearances (all starts) vs. the Cardinals.

St. Louis did not announce a starting pitcher for the Friday game.

--Field Level Media