3 key takeaways from the Cardinals series vs. the Reds

The Cardinals continued to play the role of spoiler over the weekend, as they took two out of three from the Reds and put a damper on their NL Central rivals' postseason hopes. The Cardinals have now won back-to-back series and have taken three of their last four series dating back to their set with the Padres.

This is encouraging, and it shows that even with the team well out of contention, they are taking advantage of a unique opportunity, which is to still impact the postseason race. They now head into a crucial matchup against the American League-best Baltimore Orioles with a record of 63-80.

Mostly everything went right for the Cardinals over the weekend at Great American Ballpark. The season series between the two division rivals is now tied at five games apiece, and they'll meet again to determine the head-to-head winner over the last weekend of the season, this time at Busch Stadium.

But now is a perfect time to look back on this weekend's tilt with the Reds and discuss some major moments that occurred during the series.

The bats were booming, and the pitching staff made those runs stand up in the first two games. The Cardinals lost the finale on Sunday by a final score of 7-1 as they couldn't solve Hunter Greene.

The sweep ultimately eluded them, but they still managed to win a crucial series against a team they have struggled to beat this year.