The Cincinnati Reds (71-63) and St. Louis Cardinals (68-63) played a doubleheader at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday. The first game of the doubleheader was won by the Cardinals, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon.

A doubleheader was necessary after Game 2 was rained out on Tuesday night.

In the second game of the day, the Cardinals looked to complete the series sweep with J.A. Happ (8-6, 5.76 ERA) on the mound. The Reds looked to avoid the sweep with Sonny Gray (6-6, 3.91 ERA) taking the mound.

All Reds in Series Finale

Like the first game of this doubleheader, this game wasted no time as the offense was far from a premium.

Tommy Edman led things off with a solo homer to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals hit first-inning homers in all three games of this series.

The Reds would answer in the bottom of the first.

After Jonathan India doubled, Nick Castellanos gave the Reds a 2-1 lead with a 375-foot homer to deep left-center field.

Then in the second inning, Castellanos came back to the plate with the bases loaded. Castellanos hit a grand slam as the Reds lead grew to 6-1.

Shortly after the grand slam, Cardinals starter J.A. Happ would be relieved from the game. Happ pitched one inning, allowed eight hits, seven runs, and walked two batters on 52 pitches. It was not an ideal start from Happ.

The Reds were not done scoring in the second.

Kyle Farmer would hit a 2-run shot later in the inning to extend the Reds lead to 8-1. Then Delino DeShields drove in another run later in the inning to extend the lead to 9-1.

The Reds were able to cruise after the huge second inning. It helped that Sonny Gray got very comfortable on the mound, not allowing the Cardinals to make any dents into the big lead.

The Reds would add two more runs in the third before Nolan Arenado would hit a homer to cut the Reds lead to 11-2.

The homers from Arenado and Edman were the only runs and hits Gray allowed over his five innings of work. With the offensive explosion and the great start from Gray, the Reds cruised to a 13-2 victory and avoided the series sweep.

Reds Bounce Back

After struggling in the first two games of this series, the Reds were able to bounce back in the finale.

"If we were playing European football we would have won in the aggregate," Reds' first baseman Joey Votto said. "If we'd have lost this one it would have been a tough day. It's good that we came back and won the game."

A huge reason for the Red's bounce-back was the performance from Nick Castellanos. Castellanos drove in 6 runs on 2 homers, in the first two innings.

"It was great that Nick set the tone," Cincinnati manager David Bell said. "Both were big. They were good at-bats to get us into that position. It got us off to a good start. Sometimes, it's more important than others. This time, it was really important".

After Castellanos' second homer, a grand slam in the second inning, the game was stopped for a review. That bat used for the homer was chipped and the umpires had to determine the legality. They determined that the chipped bat did not play a factor.

"My view is that it was my second home run and I drove in six," Castellanos said. "Then, all of a sudden, there was an issue. There wasn't an issue when (Jon) Lester carved me up."

Castellanos would give the chipped bat to a fan sitting behind the Reds' dugout.

What's Next?

After Wednesday's doubleheader, these NL Central foes will go their separate ways.

After taking 2 of 3 in Cincinnati, the Cardinals will stay on the road for their next series. They will open a 3-game series in Milwaukee on Friday. Veteran Adam Wainwright (13-7, 2.95 ERA) is scheduled to start Game 1 against the NL-Central leading Brewers.

The Reds will stay at home and open a 3-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Friday. Vladimir Gutierrez (9-5, 4.03) is scheduled to take the mound for the Reds on Friday.