CINCINNATI -- Down to his last chance with two strikes and two outs in the top of the ninth Thursday night, Kolten Wong hit a soft bouncer against the shift and up the third-base line to save the Cardinals from their lowest hit total of the season.

It just wasn’t enough to rally late against the Reds in the Cardinals’ 2-1 series-opening loss at Great American Ball Park.

• Box score

Held to just two hits for the fourth time this season, the Cardinals snapped their five-game winning streak -- but they didn’t lose any ground in their tie atop in the National League Central standings with the Cubs, who yielded a walk-off grand slam to the Phillies on Thursday.

“Tonight was a little tougher for us as a group, but I thought we put up a good fight in the last inning,” shortstop Paul DeJong said. “For us, we’re just focusing on the next game. Got some help from Philly, I guess. We’re right there. There’s no reason to get down."

The Cardinals got away with their lack of offense this week after they held the Royals scoreless for two games, and scored all their runs Tuesday night in the seventh and eighth innings after breaking up a no-hitter. They received two quality starts in Kansas City, and Michael Wacha threw four scoreless Thursday night, before giving up two runs in the fifth inning.

But the offensive woes caught up with the Cardinals on Thursday.

Reds starter Sonny Gray had a no-hit bid going until Dexter Fowler knocked a two-out single in the top of the fifth inning. Fowler’s hit was the only one in the Cardinals’ column until Wong’s RBI double in the top of the ninth with two outs. The Cardinals struck out 15 times -- the fifth time this season they’ve struck out 15 or more times.

“It’s hard to overcome when you have that many strikeouts,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “We have to give a little bit of credit to Gray. I thought he threw the ball pretty darn well. In and out of the zone, had his breaking ball that was late and short and tight. It was a plus pitch for him. We had some chances, worked some walks, had some opportunities. He made pitches, and we weren’t able to capitalize."

The Cardinals didn’t leave the bases completely empty -- they racked up five walks and even had the bases loaded in the top of the third inning because of two walks and a hit batter. But Paul Goldschmidt struck out looking to strand the runners and end the frame. 

It was Gray’s slider that gave St. Louis the most trouble. The Cardinals swung and missed on seven of Gray’s sliders, and only put two in play.

“He got a lot of chases on it early, then I thought we started to lay off of it,” Goldschmidt, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, said. “Then he spotted his fastball. He does a good job not making too many mistakes in the middle of the plate. We did a decent job getting his pitch count up, but we weren’t able to get that hit that we needed to get some runs across."

But the Cardinals worked Gray into deep counts, and, despite the one-hitter, Gray was done after the fifth inning, having thrown 97 pitches.

“We got some pitches to hit and didn’t maybe put our best swing on them,” Shildt said. “But I do like the fact that we were deep in counts. Gray’s got a no-hitter going, but there’s no chance he’s going to the end of that thing with the way that we were throwing together at-bats. He’s out of the game, make them go to the bullpen early. The walks are definitely a part of that. Get a couple of hits here and there, it’s a whole different ballgame."