CINCINNATI — The Cardinals had their share of mishaps and missteps along the way Friday night, but when Cincinnati committed a costly error in the 10th inning, they seized on it.

Reds All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz charged what should have been an inning-ending groundout from Willson Contreras that sent a tie game into the bottom of the 10th with Cincinnati one swing or a pair of bunts away from winning. De La Cruz threw the ball on the run and first baseman Spencer Steer didn’t dig it. That play allowed Nathan Church to score from third as the extra-inning bonus runner, and it kept the inning alive for the Cardinals to add on.

Masyn Winn did with his third hit and third RBI of the game to send the Cardinals to a 7-5 victory against the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

The Cardinals misplaced three leads in the first nine innings but reliever Ryan Fernandez held firm in the 10th. The Reds got the tying run on base before Fernandez retired three consecutive opponents.

He struck out De La Cruz to end the game and secure his first save of the season.

The Cardinals got the go-ahead run into scoring position in the top of the ninth with Pedro Pages’ double — his second extra-base hit of the game. Any chance at a rally stumbled into a costly mistake when pinch-runner Jose Fermin was picked off taking his lead.

The pickoff proved less costly when reliever Matt Svanson (3-0) plowed through the bottom of the ninth to force the game into extra innings.

That’s how it went in the later innings for the Cardinals.

A leak, a trip, a lost lead or lost chance to take a lead — and then a teammate with the pickup.

Reliever Gordon Graceffo gave up leads in each of the innings he appeared to allow Cincinnati to force a tie game into the ninth inning.

In the seventh, De La Cruz’s leadoff triple led to a quick run against Graceffo before he could get an out. That tied the game, 4-4. Winn seized the lead back with his second RBI of the game. In the top of the eighth, the Cardinals’ shortstop got ahead in the count 3-0 against Reds reliever Nick Martinez. Winn went aggressively after the next two pitches and missed to get the count full. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Winn pulled a fly ball to left field that hugged the line and dropped for a double.

Winn’s RBI scored pinch-runner Garrett Hampson for a 5-4 lead.

It was gone with a swing in the bottom of the inning.

Ke’Bryan Hayes, whom the Reds acquired from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline, drilled a solo homer off Graceffo to center field to again level the game.

Lefty Matthew Liberatore held the Reds to three runs on eight hits through his five innings. He started the sixth but did not get an out. The lefty struck out four, and when he left the mound had the Cardinals in the lead.

Liberatore spins timely strikeouts

There was only one perfect inning from Liberatore, but it was how he limited the trouble in the other innings that showed where he’s making strides as a starter.

Throughout the past month, as the innings have mounted and his first full season as a big-league starter got older, Liberatore has worked to maintain his fastball velocity deeper into his pitch counts. At the same time, he’s been working on consistency from his slider — everything from how he uses it, to how he holds it, to the results he gets from it. The goal of it all has been to miss more bats and be more consistent with his best stuff.

In the third, there was a flash.

A leadoff walk and a follow-up single put Liberatore into a jam, and he was able to defuse it with a strikeout. Liberatore set up cleanup hitter Miguel Andujar with a 93.7-mph sinker before finishing the at-bat with a plunging 88.8-mph change-up that slipped to the lowest edge of the strike zone. That and two lineouts got him out of the third without allowing a run. He finished the fourth with a strikeout on an 86-mph slider that was also set up with a sinker. That stranded two Reds on base.

Liberatore then began the fifth with consecutive strikeouts.

Four innings after he homered of Liberatore, Noelvi Marte saw a four-seamer, a slider, and a curveball to fall behind in the count. He nicked a 92.3-mph fastball on the strikeout. Liberatore followed that with a snappy curveball that De La Cruz took for a called strike 3. Liberatore set up that breaking ball with a 93.2-mph four-seamer — holding the velocity and landing the breaking ball.

Welcome to leverage, Alcala

With the Cardinals preferring to avoid using two prominent right-hander relievers, Jorge Alcala emerged from the bullpen and into arguably his highest-leverage spot yet as a Cardinal.

Liberatore started the sixth inning, but when he allowed a home run and a single to the first two batters, the Cardinals sought relief.

Spencer Steer greeted Liberatore in the sixth inning with a solo homer that shaved the Cardinals’ lead down to a run. Catcher Jose Trevino followed with a single that put the winning run on base. That ended Liberatore’s evening and began Alcala’s first significant audition as one of the right-handers the Cardinals can turn to in a bind and rely on his power fastball.

He entered a one-run game in the sixth inning.

The tying run was on base.

He walked the first batter he faced.

But the inning spun in his direction from there. The Reds’ No. 9 hitter dropped a bunt to push his two teammates closer to home with one out. Alcala gained some traction in the inning when he was able to get a popup from leadoff hitter TJ Friedl. With two outs, came the deciding play of Alcala’s inning — and he needed every inch that 6-foot-7 right fielder Jordan Walker could give him.

Marte ripped a 99.1-mph fastball from Alcala for a line drive to right field. The ball left Marte’s bat at 103.6 mph. Walker got the needed jump on the sinking liner and slid to pluck the out just before it reached the ground and did more than tie the game.

Cardinals push out to lead

The Cardinals’ answered the Reds’ rally to take their first lead with a powerful counterpunch.

In the second inning, Thomas Saggese sneaked a double into the left-field corner. A fielding error by De La Cruz put another Cardinal on base briefly before Walker was thrown out trying to steal second. That robbed the Cardinals of a run when catcher Pages drilled one of the next pitches from Zack Littell into the second deck of the left-field seats. Pages’ 10th homer of the season lifted the Cardinals to a 3-2 lead.

The scored again in the third inning after two singles and a catcher’s interference loaded the bases for shortstop Winn.

He poked a single to right to propel the Cardinals to a 4-2 lead after three.

After Winn’s single the bases were still loaded with only one out, but all three of those baserunners were stranded when Littell retired the next two batters. That began the stretch of more than four consecutive innings without a Cardinal reach base.

Littell retired 14 consecutive Cardinals before yielding the mound.

No. 2 hitters swap homers

It’s what happened after the No. 2 hitter for each team hit a home run that gave the Reds the lead after the first inning.

The second batter of the game, Cardinals designated hitter Ivan Herrera tagged an opposite-field homer into the seats at Great American Ball Park for the first run of the game. It came on the first pitch he saw in his at-bat, and the lead provided did not survive the first inning. His counterpart in the Reds’ lineup, No. 2 hitter Marte, drilled the second pitch he saw in the game for a game-tying homer.

Marte pulled a home run that traveled an estimated 444 feet.

Herrera’s 11th homer of the season took the lead, Marte’s 12th homer of the season tied the game, and the Reds weren’t done in the bottom of the first. De La Cruz doubled immediately after Marte’s homer. He took third on a single, and then he scored on a sacrifice fly for a 2-1 lead before Liberatore regained control of the inning — and rode that control until the Cardinals had reclaimed a lead.

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