ST. LOUIS – Arriving at the St. Louis team hotel at 4:03 a.m. Friday morning after an emotional series in New York, the Cincinnati Reds needed to find a spark.

Brandon Drury nearly found it.

Drury, batting with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, lined a 100-mph fastball to center field, but St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Dylan Carlson caught it with his back against the wall for the final out.

"I didn't know," Drury said after the 7-3 loss at Busch Stadium. "I hit it pretty good, but I was just trying to barrel something up, so I didn't know. I thought it had a chance, but I wasn't sure."

Before the ninth inning, the Reds had one hit in their last 16 at-bats. After creating several late-inning comebacks over the past week, it felt like they were due for a letdown game.

They opened the ninth inning with three consecutive singles. All-Star closer Ryan Helsley earned his save by retiring pinch-hitter Max Schrock, Jonathan India and Drury.

"I think all teams should be tired at this point in the season," Reds Manager David Bell said. We're no different than any other team. It's not really an option to think about it anyway."

Hunter Greene, making his final start before the All-Star break, brought the fire with his fastball, but he was unable to do the heavy lifting for a fatigued bullpen.

Greene was spotted a two-run lead before he took the mound, but it didn't last long. It was an erratic 36-pitch first inning for Greene, who gave up two hits, two walks and two sacrifice flies.

"We almost had to get someone up there," Bell said, "just too many pitches in one inning."

The top two hitters in the Cardinals’ lineup, Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson, hit back-to-back doubles off Greene in the second inning to score a run. Nolan Gorman, who struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat, homered on a slider that caught the middle of the plate in the fourth inning.

Greene completed five innings, which was not an easy task after he required 57 pitches through the first two innings. He allowed four runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six. All start, he was walking the fine line between dominant and mediocre.

He threw 28 fastballs above 100 mph and another 19 fastballs at 99 mph. He struck out the side in the third inning, finishing each at-bat with a whiff on his slider. He retired nine of his final 11 batters.

"It’s coming down to executing pitches," Greene said. "I’ve learned that this first half. The innings that I’ve executed my pitches, it’s been a great outcome. It’s being able to close that margin of error."

It's a year of development for Greene, who ended the first half of the season with a 3-11 record and a 5.78 ERA. He'll flash his potential at points in every start, but the next step is maintaining consistency.

"I have the utmost confidence in myself that I can be one of the best pitchers in this game," Greene said. "It’s going to take time. I understand that. In the past, I’ve been able to make adjustments pretty quickly and have success right away. This is the highest level, so it might take a little bit more time than the past for me. I understand that."

Said Bell: "For his first season in the big leagues, I think in a lot of ways, at his age and his level of experience, I think he should be proud of it and also be excited about what he can do the rest of the way."

Major parts of the Reds' loss were self-inflicted. The Reds should've had the bases loaded for Tyler Naquin in the third inning, putting Cardinals righty Andre Pallante on the ropes, but Kyle Farmer misread Joey Votto stopping at third base on a single and was thrown out in a rundown.

Buck Farmer walked two batters in the sixth inning before he gave up an RBI single to Corey Dickerson.

In the seventh inning, Ian Gibaut walked the first two batters he faced and moved them both into scoring position with a balk. Cardinals rookie Brendan Donovan followed two batters later with a two-run single on a ball he lofted into left field.

"I know our guys don’t want to hear this because it’s just not an option for us, but I do think our bullpen, a little fatigued tonight," Bell said. "Coming off the series in New York, I asked a lot out of them. I think that could’ve been a factor, for sure."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cardinals vs. Reds game: Hunter Greene struggles early in loss