ST. LOUIS – When the Cardinals improbably rallied two times late and won in dramatic walk-off fashion on Wednesday night, manager Oliver Marmol spoke effusively about how that moment could finally be the one that propelled the struggling ball club onto bigger and better things.

Potential proof of that point came on Thursday when the Cardinals broke open a scoreless game with three runs in the seventh inning to beat the Brewers 3-0 at Busch Stadium and win the series against their National League Central Division rivals.

The Cardinals, who are 10 games back in the division race and 4 1/2 games behind in the chase for the final Wild Card slot in the NL, won back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 6-7 after rookie Victor Scott II recorded the first three-hit day of his MLB career and Miles Mikolas pitched six scoreless innings. Mikolas, who entered having allowed three-plus earned runs in each of his last four starts, limited the Brewers to just two hits and a walk while recording 11 ground-ball outs.

Combined with Wednesday’s walk-off win, when Nolan Arenado ended the game with just the ninth walk-off grand slam in the last 50 years of the franchise’s rich history, the Cardinals beat the Brewers for the second straight time. The Redbirds lost the first six games in the season series, but they have won three of the past four between the two National League Central rivals. They wrap up their season series in Milwaukee from Sept. 2-4.

Maybe it was fitting that the first run of the day came on a bases-loaded walk, considering that’s how the Cardinals got the game tied on Wednesday night in the ninth inning. In that game, Brewers star closer Devin Williams walked in two runs with bases-loaded free passes. On Thursday, Milwaukee’s Nick Mears allowed three straight singles with one out in the seventh inning and then walked Willson Contreras after initially getting ahead 0-2 in the count.

The walk gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh, and they ultimately made it 3-0 when Arenado delivered again with the bases loaded by singling to left field.