The Reds could no longer afford to kick the can down the road and battle another day. They had to win Sunday's game vs. the Cardinals -- and the series -- to keep their dwindling hopes for the postseason legitimately alive.

It wasn't looking good at first, as the Reds trailed three times and the offense played catch-up for much of the day, but Cincinnati’s breakthrough came during a three-run top of the seventh inning for a 10-5 victory in the series' rubber game at Busch Stadium. It snapped a nine winless series streak dating back to Aug. 7-9 at Milwaukee.

• Box score

“I’ll tell you, that was one of my favorite games I’ve been a part of. Really, that game could have gone in the other direction," Reds manager David Bell said. "At this point, where we’re at, the only thing that matters is we keep playing. There’s no way that this team gives up. That’s what happened today. We stayed after it and took advantage of every opportunity we could. That’s what it’s going to take the rest of the way."

A team that scores the majority of its runs via the home run, the Reds scored their biggest runs Sunday in an unconventional manner. The three-run rally against three relievers included only one hit, with the tying run crossing on Freddy Galvis' bases-loaded walk and the go-ahead run -- Tyler Stephenson -- coming home on a wild pitch by Andrew Miller. The third run of the frame came on José Garcia's RBI groundout.

"It doesn’t matter how you score," said Eugenio Suárez, who went 3-for-5, a triple shy of the cycle. "Been tough for us to score runs, but we’ve been trying a lot, so hard, and today we scored 10 runs. That’s a good sign for everybody. It’s what we want. Two more weeks and we got to finish hard today. And that’s our goal every day -- to go outside and score the most runs that we can."

The Reds notched at least one hit in every inning and 13 overall, but the home run swings weren't on vacation. They provided the insurance runs -- Suárez slugged a two-out solo homer in the eighth and Aristides Aquino connected for his first long ball of 2020 with a two-run drive to right field.

Earlier in the game, the comebacks required some good fortune. Down 3-1 in the third inning, Suárez hit a RBI double on a routine fly ball lost in the sun by left fielder Austin Dean, and Stephenson drew a bases-loaded walk.

It was a positive day for the bullpen as well, as Reds relievers Archie Bradley and Raisel Iglesias combined to lock down the last four innings. Bradley entered in the sixth with his team down by one and retired the side in order. After the Reds took a two-run lead in the seventh, Bradley returned with a perfect eight-pitch frame.

"We have a chance to make a run here," Bradley said. "The numbers may not be great, there’s a lot of teams ahead of us, things like that, but I believe. I know the guys in there believe. Today was a big showing for that."

Iglesias took over for Bradley in the eighth and recorded a six-out save. At 21-26, Cincinnati is 2 1/2 games behind the Cardinals for the eighth and final National League Wild Card spot. The Reds open a four-game series vs. last-place Pittsburgh with a doubleheader on Monday, while St. Louis enters a grueling portion of its schedule.

The Cardinals have 10 games over the next seven days vs. the Brewers and Pirates, with three doubleheaders to make up for postponements related to their COVID-19 outbreak. 

Bradley, who arrived on Aug. 31 in a trade from Arizona, can sense the Reds' growing confidence.

"I just can feel an energy that is waiting to burst out, waiting to put everything together," Bradley said. "I saw the way this team played earlier in the year, when they got hot and won a bunch of games. You can kind of feel that simmer. You can feel it building and really feel like we were waiting for a game like today to come back. 

“There are crazier things that have happened. With eight teams making it, I feel really good about this team’s attitude and the way we feel going into these last 13 games."