Needing wins amid their flickering chances to make the MLB playoffs, the St. Louis Cardinals scored a dramatic victory on Tuesday in the second game of their three-game series against the visiting Athletics at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Runs were hard to come by in the contest, with A's starter Luis Severino and Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas tossing gems. The A's got on the board first with a Nick Kurtz RBI double in the top of the third inning. But the Cardinals got the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, where St. Louis designated hitter Ivan Herrera mashed a two-run home run.
“I don’t know, I’m just trying to hit the ball hard,” said Herrera after the game, per John Denton of MLB.com, who also noted that the Panamanian's home run tied Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber for most go-ahead homers in the sixth inning or later in the National League.
“If I’m hitting [home runs] in the late innings, that’s good, right? Helping the team win, that’s what I want to do at the end of the day,” added Herrera.
Herrera took a foul ball on the first pitch, a 91 mph slider, from Athletics reliever Michael Kelly during that at-bat. He then drew a ball in Kelly's next offering, which was the same slider. When Kelly tried to get Herrera on an 83 mph that found the middle of the strike zone, Herrera turned on it and launched a big 414-foot home run.
The 25-year-old Herrera now has a two-game home run streak, as he also sent one deep in Monday's 11-3 loss to the Athletics.
“This means a lot because all we care about is winning, and that [homer] put us in a really good position to win the game,” Herrera shared. “We got Miles a win because he pitched really good today. I want to help him as much as I can.”
Herrera, who also had a stint in the minors this year, now has 13 home runs to go along with 53 RBIs and is batting .287/.368/.450, thus far in the 2025 MLB regular season.
The Cardinals are still hoping that the dominoes will fall in their favor, as they continue to make a last push to make the playoffs. With a 69-71 record, St. Louis is 16.5 games out of first place in the National League Central and 6.5 games outside of the Wild Card picture in the NL.
