The St. Louis Cardinals split its doubleheader Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds, taking game one with an 8-1 victory, then dropping the nightcap after falling 7-6 in extra innings.

The Cardinals cruised to an easy victory in the first game behind a quality start from Andre Pallante, who allowed just one run on two hits and a walk over six innings.

His offense gave him plenty of support, with Jordan Walker and Bryan Torres both homering, and JJ Wetherholt, Iván Herrera, and Alec Burleson all recording RBI’s.

Game two was much more challenging for the Redbirds, who went up 5-1 after the Reds got to starter Kyle Leahy in the fifth inning. Jordan Walker responded with a three-run homer in the six the trim the lead to one, but Cincinnati got a run back and carried a 6-4 lead all the way to the ninth.

St. Louis mounted a comeback with a José Fermín solo homer and a game-tying RBI single from Walker, but the Cardinals couldn’t plate any runs in extra innings and fell after the Reds walked it off in the eleventh.

The Cardinals are 29-22 and sit at second place in the NL Central, two games back of Milwaukee. The Cardinals will go for the series win today, with Brycen Mautz expected to make his big league debut against Brady Singer. First pitch is at 12:40 p.m.