ST. LOUIS -- Jack Flaherty crouched near second base and watched the scoreboard with a look of bewilderment. The Marlins were celebrating with high-fives as the Cardinals trickled into the dugout and fans trickled out of Busch Stadium.

Sergio Romo had just picked off Flaherty -- pinch-running for Yadier Molina -- at second base to flatten the Cardinals’ hope of a second straight walk-off and give the Marlins a 7-6 win in 11 innings Thursday night. With the loss, the Cardinals split the four-game series with the Marlins after taking two of three in Miami last week, and they ended the night three games back from the National League Central-leading Cubs.

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Flaherty was on second base after Molina doubled to score Jose Martinez and put the Cardinals within one. But as the umpires were watching a replay of Martinez’s safe slide home, the Marlins were prepping to get the final out.

“When we were watching the replay, Miggy [Rojas] asked Romo, 'How do you feel about a quick pick?'” Marlins first baseman Yadiel Rivera said. “He said, 'All right. We will do it on the first pitch right here.’ Perfect timing.”

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said bringing Flaherty in to pinch-run was the right move because backup catcher Matt Wieters was going to pinch-hit and catch the next inning if the Cardinals had tied it.

“I put [Flaherty] in that spot,” Shildt said. “It’d be a lot better chance having a base hit and feeling like we have to put pressure on Yadi to score. Jack’s a plus runner. The reality is he wasn’t prepped well enough, and I take responsibility for that.”

The Marlins took their final lead with center fielder JT Riddle’s two-run home run to right field off Andrew Miller. Miller threw four straight sliders before the home run ball, and he walked Cesar Puello on four straight balls -- three of those sliders.

“That is my best pitch usually,” Miller said. “Just threw a really bad one. Generally, I’m better with it. I feel like I should throw to both sides of the plate with it, that’s my job, and I threw it right down the middle.”

When Miller came in, the score was tied, 5-5, because of Tommy Edman’s first Major League home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. But part of the problem for the Cardinals was not being able to drive in more runs when they had the opportunity.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, St. Louis down a run and Martinez and Marcell Ozuna on first and third, Kolten Wong grounded out to second base. With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth and a runner on, Martinez grounded into a double play, and, after Molina got on base, Rangel Ravelo grounded out to send the game to extra innings.

“We love the home run, the extra-base hit, we love doing damage,” Shildt said. “But we need to be able to attack from different angles. We had a lot really good at-bats tonight. Really quality, professional at-bats. Great approach, stayed with it, executed for the most part. But situational hitting is important. We have to be able to get those runs in. It’s a factor into the offense, for sure.”

The Cardinals were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base despite scoring six runs and nearly mounting a comeback in extra innings.

“End of the day, we got beat,” Shildt said. “There’s no really balancing out. You appreciate the effort, the heart, the competitive spirit. But at the end of the day, we came up short.”