SAN DIEGO — It took a rally to erase an early deficit to give the Cardinals a chance to see how their bullpen will hold a lead without three veterans out there, including the closer they relied on a record number of times to do so.

Down by four runs by the end of the third, the Cardinals scored the game’s next eight for a 8-5 reversal on the Padres at Petco Park. But first the bullpen had to hold it. Catcher Pedro Pages’ three-run homer onto a balcony overlooking left field muscled the Cardinals’ comeback in the fourth inning. Masyn Winn put them ahead with a two-run double in the fifth inning. When starter Michael McGreevy finished his solid start after six innings, that left the Cardinals with a two-run lead and nine outs to get.

They had no Steven Matz warming.

They had no Phil Maton to man the eighth.

They had no Ryan Helsley looming.

The Cardinals’ new formula for holding leads emerged based on matchup. Right-hander Kyle Leahy, an increasingly prominent member of the bullpen, shepherded the lead into the eighth for JoJo Romero to finish. Leahy pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Romero handled the rest to earn the first save of the post-Helsley era.

Romero stepped onto the tightrope in the ninth by walking the first batter he faced. A two-out single by No. 9 hitter Freddy Fermin drove home the run and brought leadoff hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. to the plate. With a three-run lead to work with and Tatis only able to tighten the game not flip it, Romero stayed in. Tatis drove the ball to right field – where Lars Nootbaar reached up and caught it near the top of the wall.

That catch secured Romero’s first save of this season and second since his cameo as the closer late in 2023.

The three scoreless innings from two relievers followed 3 2/3 scoreless innings from relievers in Friday night’s loss to the Padres.

McGreevy steadies in homecoming

A native of San Clemente, California – about an hour drive north of Petco Park depending on traffic and trapped between Orange County and San Diego – Cardinals starter McGreevy (3-2) grew up a Padres fan. He had family in the stands for his second start against the Padres and first appearance at their ballpark, the one not too far from home.

San Diego greeted McGreevy with runs in each of the first three innings.

Former batting champ Luis Arraez slashed a double down the left-field line to then score on Manny Machado’s first-inning single for a quick 1-0 lead three batters into McGreevy’s start. In the second inning, one of the Padres’ trade-deadline prizes, outfielder Ramon Laureano, skipped a triple into the right-field corner to score Xander Bogearts. Laureano then scored on a groundout for 3-0 lead on McGreevy’s fifth out of the game.

In the third, the Padres were more direct with their rally.

Jackson Merrill drilled a pitch from McGreevy to straightaway center field for his eight homer of the season. The ball traveled 415 feet and over the reach of Victor Scott II. Thirteen batters into the game, McGreevy had allowed four runs and the Cardinals had answered with zero.

Both trends would shift.

McGreevy found his footing with the pair of groundouts I the fourth inning, and then got a key double play that boosted his start and got him through six innings. After a leadoff single by Arraez in the fifth, McGreevy coaxed a groundball from Machado and then participated in the inning-altering double play. When Merrill came up for his at-bat after the homer, McGreevy dropped a 2-2 curveball on him that the umpire ruled caught the outside edge of the strike zone for a called strike three. That was the first McGreevy’s three strikeouts in four batters.

He finished the sixth inning with strikeouts on a changeup and a sweeper.

Pages launches Cardinals’ comeback

Handed a new bat to replace the broken one in the middle of his at-bat, Pages made immediate use of the fresh tool with a hit that upended the game.

The Cardinals’ starting catcher entered Saturday’s game with a .201 average, a frustrating spell at the plate, and several days off in the past week to get away from his struggles. He hit a groundout in the second to end the Cardinals’ first tease at a rally, and in the fourth inning he found himself behind 0-2 with two teammates on base and a deficit to erase.

First, he got a new bat.

Second, he got a hanging curveball.

Padres starter Randy Vasquez flipped the 1-2 curveball at 80.8-mph, and Pages put such a no-doubt swing on it that it left his bat at 103.2 mph and soared 422 feet toward the Western Metal Supply Co. beyond left field. The home run reached the second balcony of the building that’s part of Petco Park’s downtown charm. And, as it rattled there, Pages circled the bases to tie the game, 4-4.

The homer was Pages’ first since June 27.

He matched his career of seven from this past season.

It erased the four-run deficit the Padres created in the first three innings, and it set the stage for the Cardinals taking their first lead an inning later.

For the Winn

What first appeared like an inning that was going to gust away on the breeze of strikeouts instead became the Cardinals breakthrough – one of their few offensively in the past week.

Shut out in back-to-back games by the Marlins before coming west and held to a solo homer Friday in the series opener in San Diego, the Cardinals had Pages’ three RBIs as their tailwind when Ivan Herrera opened the fifth inning with his third hit of the game. Alec Burleson followed Herrera’s single with a walk.

And then came the whiffs.

Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada struck out Willson Contreras and Nootbaar to freeze the runners in their place and put the scoring chance on tilt.

Shortstop Winn rescued it when he pulled a ball that hugged the left-field line. Herrera scored easily to break the tie, and Burleson rampaged from first base to reach home ahead of the tag for a 6-4 lead. Winn’s two RBIs came on his second hit of the game, his third hit of the series, and 24th double of the season.

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